


Kill Me/Kill Me

by valentine999



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2018-07-10 12:30:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 45,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6985150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valentine999/pseuds/valentine999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, how did you two meet? "Darling, why don't you tell the story, you tell it so much better-" "Well, we both used to work for different banks. And then I tried to kill him." AlexXOC. Further summary inside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Forgotten Girl

Summary continued: Alex is nineteen, left his MI6 days behind him and is living with Sabina. However, an organisation has other plans for him. What happens when a female assassin fails to do her job and faces Alex with not only the prospect of returning to MI6 but also secrets of his past?

Hera is pronounced Here-a

***

-8.05 AM, Mumbai, India-

The sun was rising over the city to signal the start of a new day but already the inhabitants were awake. Already beginning a days work of enervating what scarce resources the city had to offer them and even though the sun was still lazily hanging on the horizon, the heat it generated, the sounds they grunted as sweat poured from their foreheads, the shrieks from the cattle in the middle of the roads merely encapsulated the city in its own world. No one stopped, nothing stopped, everyone kept going, kept working, hoping that someday something might actually save them. In this city, a skyscraper imposed itself among the forgotten greenery and served as a sanctuary to those who used to remember, or wished to remember, the former glory of India. For instance, one room, high up in the building, had tapestries depicting women by rivers, seducing men of royal blood. But the colours were faded, the blood reds no longer alive, the purple robes no longer vibrant and the women's faces no longer seductive. The bed, draped in white curtains and red silk covers was untouched; perfect to every detail was the carved wooden headboard with markings only the carpenter would know the meaning of. The dressing table was made entirely of glass but it was chipped and no longer shimmered in the golden light that shone past the hanging clothes on a line outside, in the balcony. The table had nothing on it either, although on closer inspection you could see the rushed removal of bloodstains from the glass. In fact, the clothes on the balcony were the only indication that someone was staying in this room. The clothes, and the suitcase of poison hidden under the bed.

A sound issued from the balcony, for outside the inhabitant of this particular room had, unlike the rest of Mumbai, finished another night's work. With the sound of a flutter of a butterfly's wing they landed softly on the floor of the balcony and lowered their head. Dark waves of hair fell forwards, covering their face and a slight breeze swayed the locks of hair and cooled the guest's forehead gently. They knelt, in white trousers, a white vest and a pale brown shirt hung loosely off of their shoulders. The clothes clung tightly to her body and after a nights work they were of course stained and torn, telling secrets of the struggle and chase she had been involved in. She stood slowly, breathing heavily and between the dark hair that flowed gently in front of her face, blue eyes peered into the room. Her caramel coloured skin glistened with sweat and as she reached out a hand a cut on her wrist oozed blood, she grabbed a cloth from the line above her head and wiping the back of her neck with it.

Before it had even rung, she turned her head to the telephone in her room. Slowly, like a tiger in the wilderness of the forest beyond Mumbai, she walked into her room with great caution. Once she was sure nothing had been touched she looked to the phone again; at least a minute had past and it was still ringing? Someone sure was determined to speak with her. She stared at it a moment longer before walking forwards quickly and snatching the phone from its holder, she held it to her ear.

"Hera?" It was Mrs Jones. She remained silent. "Hera, stop bloody fooling around and get back to London, immediately." She wiped her neck again and removed her shirt, listening to the rant of the woman; "do you understand your position will be terminated if anyone hears what's been going on with you?!" She heard Mrs Jones take a moment to calm down, "Hera, please answer me-"

"I killed him." She said bluntly and Mrs Jones stopped speaking suddenly.

"Who?"

"Craft." Her voice was different, Mrs Jones always noticed, after she had worked a night; it was rough, defensive almost, as though trying to prove she didn't give a damn.

"Hera, we're coming to get you."

"Don't bother. I'm coming home." She put the phone down and sat on her bed after flinger her shirt across the room. She lay there, thinking about what she'd done that night, she'd even impressed herself; it had taken at least two hours less than she predicted would be necessary. The door creaked open.

"Miss Hera?" Came a cheery, Indian voice from the doorway. She sat up in the bed and looked around to the little old lady at her door with a smile.

"Good morning Nandini." She said brightly before standing up and making her way to the bathroom. She stopped at the door for she saw a look of horror cross Nandini's face. "What is it?"

"Have you been out hunting?" Nandini smiled as she pointed to all the blood stains on Hera's clothes. She looked to her arms which had bruises forming and shrugged.

"Just seen a bit of backstreet India." She shrugged and walked into the bathroom. There she performed the usual routine of washing the blood from every part of the body she could before washing her face to hide the fact she let some tears escape her eyes. Walking back into the room she saw Nandini pick up her shirt from the floor and inspect it.

"I can wash this for you-"

"No need," Hera walked to the cupboard and opened it, "I'm leaving today…" her voice trailed away as the phone began to ring again. Mrs Jones was really pushing her luck if she though Hera was going to answer, but Nandini was in the room so she figured she had to. She jumped onto the bed, rolled over, sat up and reached across for the phone. "Hello?"

"Hera?" Damn. It was Blunt.

"Yes?"

"This is Alan Blunt-"

"I know." She heard him cough pointedly. What the hell did he want? She knew she was in trouble but a phone call from Blunt was hardly an official protocol.

"Mumbai?" He almost said it in a mocking tone, "you really didn't think we'd find you?" He sneered and she smiled at Nandini who was taking down the clothes from the line outside.

"I wasn't hiding." She ran a hand through her hair warily and tried to keep her eyes open; Blunt's monotone voice often put her to sleep.

"Right. I have news for you."

"Oh?"

"Do you remember the agent Alex Rider?" Hera almost dropped the phone, her eyes went blank and her bottom lip quivered as though trying to think of something to say and slowly memories she'd repressed were bubbling to the surface again. Rmember him? It was difficult, almost painful, to forget. "Vivienne?" The sharp sound brought her back to reality.

"I do." She murmured, "what do you want with him?" And so she listened, trying to think straight and on task but images of her time spent with the blonde haired, blue eyes boy were running through her mind. She hadn't heard of him or from him for a few years now, she wondered if he'd changed much but somehow she doubted it. There had always been something adult about him anyway, you could see from his eyes that he'd known to much of the horrors of life so there was no room for growing up. Both of them had been forced to grow up since they were kids. Blunt finished speaking, "I'll be in London by this evening." She said and put the phone down, still slightly shocked by the revelation that she'd be seeing him again.

***

-London-

Alex woke up. He looked around wildly for some light, something to show him where he was but then he felt the slow breathing of another person against his chest and could feel her entangled in his embrace; he knew where he was. He had to crane his neck to get a look at the time; 2.05 AM. He let out a deep shuddering breath and let her slip out of his arms. Flinging his legs over the side of the bed he rubbed his eyes; trying to remember where this feeling of guilt and sadness was coming from. He shook his head as he realised it had been the same dream; the same terrible memory of his last mission. He tried not to think about it as he stood and walked out of the room, a sensor lit the light before him so he could see into the hallway. Before leaving he took one last glance at Sabina's sleeping figure, holding onto the duvet with a vice-like grip as though it were Alex. He smiled at the way her hair fell messily around her face and walked away.

A few minutes later he was stood by the kitchen sink, a cold glass of water in his hand, staring out into the darkness of the streets beyond the window. He hadn't felt like this in a long time, that dreaded sense of helplessness and loneliness that, before Sabina had started to share his life, sometimes engulfed him. He knew there were wounds that would never really heal but this pain, reliving that memory, was more than he could bear.

"Bad dreams?" He looked up to the window, for his gaze had fallen and saw Sabina's reflection against the darkness. He turned to her and smiled slightly as her bright eyes appraised him in the half-lit darkness of the kitchen.

"It's nothing," he said and shook his head, "go back to bed." She simply stared at him for a moment and sat and the table before folding her arms.

"It's never "nothing" with you." He laughed and she did nothing.

"Sabina-"

"Alex," she cut across him, aware he was trying to get rid of her, "stop trying to shut me out-"

"I'm not."

"You always are." She sighed exasperatedly, "especially when it comes to talking about MI6." He shuddered as she said it, "please, help me out." She sat back and waited for him to begin his story. He came and sat opposite her at the kitchen table and bit his lip. How could he possibly describe why he felt this way without telling her even the darkest secrets about his past? He figured it started with a girl.

"There was this girl-"

"Was she pretty?" As usual the first question Sabina asked about any girl Alex mentioned, he sighed and decided that now was not a good time to lay.

"She was," he searched for a word to describe her, "stunning." He said simply and saw Sabina glance at him haughtily before wrapping her dressing gown around herself tightly. "Dark hair, coffee coloured skin but blue eyes," he smiled as he remembered, "her name was Hera-"

"Like the Greek goddess?" Sabina muttered, not really asking a question, merely commenting.

"She wasn't English." Alex continued, "something middle eastern maybe?" He shook his head as though answering his own question. "I never asked." He closed his eyes as he tried to remember. "She was typical of any attractive girl; smart, funny, pretty and she made amazing pancakes!" Sabina laughed. "We were together for a while-"

"Together?"

"On missions…together." He answered her suspicious look, "and we were friends. And for once, I wasn't alone." He avoided Sabina's eye as he spoke for he knew what she thought of Hera already, but he had to tell someone, it was tearing him to pieces.

"Did you love her?" Sabina asked in a voice that Alex knew was demanding the answer she wanted and not the one he was going to give.

"I don't know." He said seriously and finally looked at her, "I've never known…because, she was so different to me." Sabina reached across the table and Alex thought she was going to hold his hand but she seemed to change her mind and went for his glass of water instead. "You know before I left I screamed awful things at her." Sabina looked at him suddenly for his voice had become harsher than she had ever heard it, almost bitter with remorse. "Awful things." His voice was shaking along with his hands which he clenched together in front of him. "You know why?" he didn't wait for an answer, "because she enjoyed it." He spat out the last two words and shook his head, "she said," he still couldn't bring himself to say it for he didn't want to believe it, "killing someone was fine, if it was for the benefit of so many people." He rubbed his eyes, "how could someone so kind and caring think that murdering is fine? I've had to live with what I did!" He almost shouted and Sabina jumped, "I had to go on feeling guilty about the death's I caused, feeling guilty for leaving her and for not even attempting to get her to change her mind-"

"You mean she stayed on with MI6?" Sabina asked timidly for she wasn't sure how he'd react anymore. He nodded.

"I could've saved her from herself." He rubbed the back of his neck, "but I didn't. I didn't try to take her with me, I didn't try to dissuade her. I left her."

"I don't believe you." He looked up to her for the first time since the start of their conversation and saw Sabina was not angry but concerned for him.

"What?"

"You loved her." She said bluntly, "but you didn't save her for selfish reasons." Alex was dumbfounded as to how Sabina could have reached such a conclusion. "You didn't save her because you wanted to be with her afterwards. But that meant she was a constant reminder of that life you wanted to forget. Sure, you'd both forget it together but to know she still wanted it, to see it in her eyes…it wouldn't let you forget. So you left her. Just so you wouldn't have to relive the things you'd done." He was going to deny it, but now he couldn't help it, he nodded. "You didn't tell her you loved her?" Again he nodded, "you feel guilty for a number of things Alex," she explained, "1. because you didn't tell her how you felt 2. because you left her and 3. because the reason to the previous two statements was selfish." He had always found it slightly difficult to keep up with Sabina's analysis of him but he guessed she was right. "But you forgot one thing."

"What?" Alex asked and felt ashamed as he saw her eyes were glazed over with tears.

"You forgot that every time I look at you, I see her." A cold tear fell down Sabina's face, "that every time I'm with you I can feel you want to be somewhere else-"

"I love you!" He assured her and she nodded.

"Yeah, you do," she wiped the tears from her face roughly, "but you left us, me and you," she pointed at him, "to hurt together and she got no pain." Sabina stood up from the table, "that's how much you loved her." Alex shook his head, "I never minded!" She said quickly, "I did wonder though, what it was that was holding you back from saying what was in your head, or even your heart. It was her." She wiped her eyes again quickly, "I'm going back to bed," she turned to walk away, "come up when you're ready." Alex sat at the kitchen table, shocked by Sabina's revelations into his own past. It couldn't be true; how could he have loved her when she was a murderer? He didn't love her. He loved Sabina. As usual Alex's head became clouded by memories of that forgotten girl and replays of what Sabina had just said and he found he could think about it no more. He put his glass in the sink and returned to their bed, unaware that the very same, forgotten girl was on her way to him.

****

Reviews appreciated!


	2. Diamond

There was no place Alex liked more than being in Sabina's embrace. Locked in her arms he could've stayed there forever but after last night he didn't think she'd let him. They were stood on the steps that led up to the door of Alex's uncle's house. It was his, of course it was now that his uncle had passed on but he could never quite get himself to admit it. It was the beginning of summer and sunshine shone through the leaves of the trees that surrounded Ian's house, a soft breeze played in the air teasingly as though trying not to alleviate the intense heat. Sabina drew away from Alex but still held tightly onto his right hand. She looked at him with those eyes that showed she cared so much for him, before she pulled her sunglasses over her eyes and walked away.

 

"Hey," Alex whispered and jerked her hand back to him so he could kiss her one last time. He tried his hardest to capture everything he felt for her in that one kiss but somehow it still felt empty. He drew away from her and although he could not see her eyes he knew what he's see there.

"You don't have to prove anything Alex." She said quickly and turned sharply on her heel to walk away from him. He watched her go through the gates and all the way down the street. Sabina went to a university near the house and Alex, after so long spent with MI6, had taken a year out to finish his A levels and even then he was unsure of what he wanted to study at university. Or if he even wanted to go. He walked back into the house and shut the door. In the hallway he cursed himself for telling Sabina what had been troubling him but he couldn't hide it from her anymore because she was right; every time he looked at her he wished she was that somebody else that was giving him these nightmares. He walked into the living room, not even sure of what he was doing for he didn't feel like his body and mind were connected anymore; it was a strange sensation. When he sat down he closed his eyes and although he tried to fight it he couldn't help but travel back to those memories of just two years ago.

* * *

_-Flashback_

 

_Two years ago-_

_You know how when it's a staggeringly hot day, perspiration builds up on your forehead and seeps from your body and you're wearing as little clothing as you can get away with but it's still too hot to even think? And then you are presented with a tropical drink with ice floating on the surface of the pink, cold liquid and when you bring the glass to your lips you sense how cold it is and then the satisfaction as the liquid pours into you, cooling every part of your body. That's what she was like. Hera._

_Alex watched as she stood on the deck of the boat, waving to him and growing impatient as he pretended to ignore her. Eventually she gave up and slung her arms lazily over the railing of the boat and he stood at the pier, also leaning lazily against a wooden pillar there. She looked down at him and blushed; for the past two weeks she'd only ever seen him covered in dirt with torn clothes as they had run through the backstreets of Mumbai together. Now he stood in a black suit they had bought him and she laughed; she had forgotten in the space of three weeks how handsome he was. The annoying thing was that when he was with her, he knew it; he acted so arrogant just to get on her nerves. And she did the same in return._

_Alex had wondered why she hadn't called out to him for at least a minute and decided to steal a look up at her. Even covered in dirt she was stunning so seeing her against a backdrop of stars and the night sky, in her pretty blue dress with her dark hair falling against the railing, took his breath away. Of course, he wasn't going to let her know that. There was an unspoken contract between the two that although it was obvious to everyone, even them, that they were infatuated with each other, they would never admit it. And to cover up the pain that came along with looking at someone every day and not telling them how you feel, they settled for teasing and annoying each other; the only thing that had stayed with them from their childhood. Alex lazily walked towards the stairs that led up to the deck of the magnificent ship and Hera turned to the stairs with equal indolence. She inspected her nails as he approached her, hands in his pockets, staring around them as though nothing interested him._

" _Evening," he said and looked her up and down quickly. She smiled and looked round as though just noticing him._

" _Evening," she replied, "what brings you here stranger?" She locked her eyes with his and everyone, even they, marvelled at the fact that there eyes were that same, intense blue that had the same hard and determined look. She looked him up and down slowly, "forget something?" She asked and pointed to his feet, he looked down and saw he had forgotten to put his other shoes on and so stood in his trainers. He smiled as he looked down and put on a straight face to look at her._

" _That's the look I was going for." He said and she nodded even though she knew it was a lie. He pointed to her neck which was bare and walked to her side._

" _Did you forget something?" He asked and out of his jacket pocket pulled out a necklace._

" _Wha…" She stopped speaking as she felt him move her hair to one side of her neck and place a necklace around her. The metal felt cold against her skin but she didn't feel it as his fingers brushed her skin too. He pulled away from her and she pulled the pendant of the necklace into view and smiled, it was a simple pear-cut diamond. Alex watched closely and for a second felt satisfaction as a small smirk appeared on her face but she soon looked at him as though unimpressed. "And this is for?" Alex took her hand and pulled her close, smiling at the fact that for once she was lost for words._

" _I was alone for so long," he whispered to her, "everyone who came to me as a friend turned out to be a liar, an enemy but not you." For once their smiles were genuine, "everything I felt I had to keep hidden for so long, but not with you." She wrapped her arms around him and they looked at each other, for some strange reason, with the same look they gave when about to go into another mission; that determined look that they wouldn't let the other fall. They had never, in the two years they had been together, they had never held each other like this and it felt strange, almost liberating. "Hera, when you weren't around-"_

" _I love you." She said suddenly and Alex stumbled over his words._

" _What?"_

" _I love you." She said with more clarity, "more than I ever remember loving anyone." She finally admitted it, not only to Alex but to herself, "I'm sorry." She said when he said nothing._

" _Why are you sorry?" He asked, still dumbfounded by her revelation._

" _Because it messes everything up," she began but stopped as he put a hand to her chin and tilted her towards him._

_-End flashback-_

* * *

Alex shook his head as though that could rid him of thoughts of her. He didn't want to remember what had happened that night, he didn't want to remember why, just six hours after that moment, she walked out of his life.

* * *

_-Royal and Genera Bank, London-_

 

A pear shaped diamond caught the light in Alan Blunt's office that morning as it hung from the silver chain around her neck. Blunt looked across to the girl in front of him. Nineteen and deadly. That's what they'd called her and she lived up to that reputation as though trying to prove it. She had never cared much about anything and she always liked Blunt to know that. For instance, this meeting was scheduled for 8 AM and she had turned up at 8.20 AM. He'd waited for twenty minutes, reading through her psychiatric profile which stated her attachment to the forgotten Alex Rider. It was clear she did not forget him, or else she wouldn't have come back so quickly.

"How are you?" Blunt asked as he handed the file to Mrs Jones who sat next to him.

"You care?" Hera replied and Blunt nodded, that meant she was fine. Blunt finally looked to her with bored eyes, he had shouted at her enough before to get her attitude to stop but it was no use. "Rider," she said quickly before he could ask her anything, "what do you want with him?" Blunt sighed.

"We hear news that an organisation wants him," Hera gave nothing away; she simply stared at Blunt, waiting for him to carry on. "We can't have that; he knows too much about us." Mrs Jones, sucking on a sweet as she usually did, coughed as though about to make a point but said nothing when Hera glanced to her. "He needs protection." Blunt said plainly. Hera sat forwards.

"Why me?"

"You know why."

"Because I'm the best?"

"Because you don't want him to get hurt." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't care for him." She said stubbornly.

"You do-"

"That organisation you're talking about," she interjected, "they approached me." Blunt and Jones looked to each other quickly and sat forwards, immediately Mrs Jones began writing.

"Well, girl," Blunt pressed her, "what did they say?" Hera took a deep breath and looked him in the eye and for a split second Blunt saw something sinister, something evil, pass over her face.

"They said I could kill him."

* * *

**Reviews appreciated!**

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am very much aware that Alex's eyes are not blue! I just decided not to correct it out of sheer laziness/it was already integral to the story by the time I realised. Hopefully the awesomeness of the fic will help you forget the mistake hahaha.

"And?" Blunt took a breath, trying to guess what was going on in the girl's mind. "What did you say?" Everyone who knew Hera also knew that since the departure of Alex Rider she had changed. This first to notice was Smithers, upon meeting him she had referred to him as the "toy-maker" and he had found her energy an exhilarating change to the usual spies he met. The day Alex left, however, he never heard that name again. He had reported the behaviour to Mrs Jones who in turn asked for a full psychiatric report with came to the conclusion that they all dreaded; Hera was broken. There was a part of her missing now, the part they used to see when she would become excited to go on a new mission. No longer was she excited, no longer did she bring life to MI6 like she did when she was a child. Everyone had instantly adopted her when her father brought her in at the age of eight, but now it was as though they watched their own daughter fall, get her heart broken and carry on regardless. His departure had torn her to pieces, and she tried to pretend she didn't care.

"And?" Hera repeated and sat forwards in her seat, giving Blunt that usual hard stare. "If I had said yes, I wouldn't be telling you, would I?" She asked and Blunt almost became flustered. "I may dislike you Blunt, but that doesn't mean I don't know where my loyalty lies." She smiled at him, a familiar and almost forgotten smile.

"You'll do it then?" Mrs Jones asked in a timid voice.

"Is it just observation?" Hera asked, not taking her eyes off Blunt.

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"For as long as we think is necessary." Hera contemplated as Mrs Jones said this.

"Hera," Blunt began and she rolled her eyes as he used the most fatherly tone he could, "you've been on four missions this past month with no breaks." He held up a hand to stop her from interrupting him, "Mumbai was not a break, I know you see assassination as easy work, but still." He cleared his throat, "you need this." He left the sentence hanging in the air.

"I know what you think of me Blunt." She murmured, not really talking to him but to herself, "when Alex was here I did these things because I enjoyed them. Now I do it because I have no other choice." He nodded at her slowly, "I'll do it." She confirmed as Mrs Jones handed her the mission briefing. Her blue eyes skimmed the writing on the page and they saw her confused expression before she spoke. "Is he allowed to know I'm following him?" Mrs Jones nodded.

"Rider isn't the kind of agent-"

"He's not an agent."

"-Who likes to be patronised." Hera looked back at the writing and smiled slightly. "However, knowing you are observing him, knowing someone is after him may cause irrefutable damage to our relationship with him." Hera looked up at her with scrutiny. "Do not meet with him or attempt to explain the situation. If he finds out, contact us immediately." Hera stood up and walked to the door, she turned back as Alan Blunt called her name.

"Make sure he's safe." He said quietly and Hera smiled.

"Of course I will." She replied and left. In the room neither Blunt nor Mrs Jones moved or said anything for at least a minute. They were thinking the same thing. Mrs Jones rubbed her forehead, she seemed to be changing her mind.

"What if they..." She wasn't sure if she should voice her worries.

"They what?" Blunt was growing impatient with her; she looked at him and shook her head, meaning it was nothing to worry about. "Find out more about the company that contacted her." Mrs Jones nodded and stood up. "What was the organisation's name?" He asked as she walked past him, she glanced back with a small, knowing smile. "Scorpia?" She nodded and Blunt took a deep, shuddering breath. "They will not die." He muttered as she left.

 

* * *

 

Alex was falling asleep at his desk. This history essay was far too demanding for a Monday morning and his lack of sleep just meant he couldn't think straight. His study room was in the basement of the house, luckily Ian Rider had put in slim windows that gave view to the surface of the street and Alex could just about make out his road and the front doors of many houses opposite. He watched as a man on a bike cycled past and his brow furrowed; that man had cycled past at least three times in the past ten minutes. This road was very long; cycling at that speed from one end to another would take at least twenty anyway. Alex sighed; why did he always think so much about insignificant details? The man was probably testing the bike around his house.

The basement was Alex's favorite part of the house; it had so many functions that any boy would find useful. A games room, a movie room, gadget room…he smiled. Some of the gadgets Smithers had given him were dotted around the place, besides a fish tank that took up a whole wall there was the last bike he had received three years ago. On his desk were innocent pens, pencils, a yoyo, a pack of gum. The floor consisted of grey tiles, the ceiling had low lights and Alex swiveled round on his chair to face the massive flat screen television at the end of the room. He stared at it intently, wondering if he should dare to do what he was thinking. The TV was a form of communication set up two years ago between himself and MI6. Sound activated meant it was incredibly risky to use but if he simply said three words the system would turn on and he could contact them. He looked back to his essay on the desk; life was so boring now his MI6 days were over. He had hated it, sure, but nothing afterwards could quite compare to the adventure. He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't do it. Instead he stood from his chair and ran up the stairs to the ground floor of the house. Once in the hall he threw on a jacket, picked up his house keys and walked out of the house.

The day was still beautiful, it was still morning and the sun was lighting up his world. The green leaves offered little shade from the summer heat and as Alex walked through the gates of his uncle's house he saw the cyclist go past again. Alex thought nothing of it and continued on his walk to Sabina's university. He was bored and knew she was free for a few hours in the morning so taking her away for an early lunch would be a romantic gesture after last night.

 

* * *

 

Hera tried not to, but she couldn't help it. She stood still just staring at his figure in the distance. She hadn't seen his face but knew it was him; she remembered his walk, his gait, the way he ran his hand through his hair. She was stood on the roof of a house MI6 had given her; it was almost directly opposite Ian Rider's house. In a white dress printed with pink, blue and yellow flowers she lowered her sunglasses and took of her sun hat. Watching with suppressed happiness as he walked away from her. The ribbon around her hat licked her legs as they swayed with the breeze and she looked down. As she did she caught sight of the cyclist and was unimpressed; she could make out the weapon in his backpack. As though killing Alex Rider would be that easy. Slipping on lace gloves, she reached down, unlocked her briefcase which contained a simple pistol. Reaching down again she pulled a silencer from the briefcase and attached it to the gun. That's all she needed.

Hera took aim. It was a moving target but she'd had so much experience that it made no difference. She cocked the gun and let the exhilaration run through her as she pulled the trigger. The shot was of course silent but as soon as she shot she ran across the rooftop and jumped to the next building. She had guessed the gap correctly and landed slightly, rolled over form the momentum and then flattened herself against the roof to get her breath back. As soon as the cyclist was hit his men would have come and collected the bottom before tracing the angle the bullet came at and they'd go straight to the roof she was on. So she jumped to the next house to buy her some time. She sure was glad she asked for two houses next to each other. She knew they'd enter the other house from the bottom and work their way up to the roof. So she kept as close to the floor of the roof as possible and made her way to the door. She opened it and ran down the stairs, she had left the concealed door in her kitchen open and as she ran into the kitchen she threw her gun inside the compartment. She ripped off her dress to reveal a dark blue one she had on underneath and threw it in as well. Before closing the door with her foot she removed her hat also. She ran through the house and opened the front door before putting on a look of shock and ran out to meet her new neighbors. Everyone was looking up to the roof she shot from and she joined them. A little old lady walked up to her.

"Hello dear," she said and Hera smiled at her.

"How do you do?" She asked and pointed up to the roof, "any idea what's going on?" Hera asked innocently and the old lady shook her head.

"No, dear." The lady said and pointed to the vans gathering. "The cyclist went down and these men are coming from everywhere!" More people were gathering and the men, looking like a SWAT team in black combat gear, were searching the house. "Listen, you've just moved in haven't you?" Hera, who was keeping her eye on the men looked over to the lady after a few moments and nodded. "Well then we must welcome you to the street!" And the gathering people began to welcome Hera and make plans for a party in a few days. She found it strange that these people could experience something as shocking as murder and then start planning parties! Looking through the crowds, Hera could see Alex looking at the chaos and make his way over. The little old lady confirmed Thursday evening was a good day and turned to tell Hera. But the girl with the blue eyes was gone.

"Mrs Rum," Alex said as he approached her and noticed she looked flustered.

"Oh, hello Alex!" She exclaimed and looked past him.

"What's wrong?" he asked as she practically pushed him out of the way.

"Where's she gone?"

"Who?"

"That girl, pretty little thing." She commented and nodded knowingly. "I'll go and see her with some cake. She's just moved in." She informed Alex who couldn't understand why she was thinking of such mundane things when someone had been killed. As the woman walked away she turned back to him, "eyes just like yours, dear." She called back to him and Alex simply stared at her. It couldn't be. Could it?

 

* * *

 

**Reviews welcome!**


	4. Free Runner

Alex threw his keys onto his desk in the basement and shrugged off his jacket onto the floor. Pulling his chair towards him roughly he sat down and glared at the television opposite him.

"Good morning Alpha." He breathed and waited as blinds closed over the windows, more lights turned on in the room and the television screen turned on. A few words, white against a black background, formed on the screen:

Good morning Alex.

"Call." He stated, "Mrs Jones." The screen went blank as he waited for Mrs Jones to pick up her telephone. No less than two seconds later Alex was greeted with the familiar sight of Mrs Jones office and the woman herself, sat behind a wooden desk littered with papers that could be about him. He hadn't seen this for two years now; he hadn't seen her in person for at least three. It distressed him slightly, to find that he was excited at the chance to call her.

"Alex!" She exclaimed. "You look well."

"There was a murder outside my house." Alex cut through her; he needed to get to the bottom of this and was not fazed when Mrs Jones looked surprised.

"Really?" She shuffled some papers in front of her. "Well, I can't say we heard of anything in that area-"

"Someone was seen," Alex interrupted her again. "With eyes the same colour as mine." He said pointedly and Mrs Jones shrugged.

"Someone with blue eyes?" She asked, "hardly useful information-"

"There is only one person," Alex said loudly and stood up, his hands curled into fists, "who has eyes this exact shade of blue!" He shouted and the woman recoiled. There were a few moments of silence in which Alex tried to calm down. "Is she here?" He asked quietly and looked to the floor. He had to gather a lot of courage to say it; "Hera?" He looked up to the screen and those crystal blue eyes looked intently at Mrs Jones who pulled her jacket around herself tighter.

"Of course not." She said calmly and Alex sat back down with a sigh of relief. "Hera isn't even in the country." She concluded and sat forwards, towards the videophone on her desk. "Alex, murders happen. That doesn't necessarily mean we have anything to do with them." He nodded slowly.

"I know…I just…" He didn't know what to say.

"Keep safe, Alex." Mrs Jones said suddenly. "And if there's anything else you need then don't hesitate to call." She smiled at him and before he could even open his mouth she spoke again. "Until then I guess you have your quick encounter with the police." As soon as she uttered the last word the doorbell ran in Alex's house. He looked up and then back to the screen, "I guess that's them; wanting to know about the murder." Alex stood up.

"Goodbye Mrs Jones." Alex said and was already walking away when she said goodbye. "Good night Alpha," he said as he walked back up the stairs and the television switched off, the extra lights switched off and the blinds lifted from the windows. At the top of the stairs his phone rang. "Hello? Sabina, I know, I'm sorry, I'll be there soon."

***

"He knows." Hera said anxiously and Blunt was instantly worried; it was unlike Hera to become apprehensive so early on in a mission. "When I came back into the house and he talked to Mrs Rum-"

"Mrs Rum?" Blunt asked from the other end of the line. Hera, who was sat on her breakfast table, a bowl of cornflakes in her hands, turned to the television exasperatedly.

"Who?" She asked before realizing what he was asking, "oh, my new neighbour-"

"Hera, stay calm-"

"I am calm!" She shouted, waving her spoon at the screen. She took a moment to compose herself. "It's too risky; I'm getting out-"

"Alright." Blunt said suddenly and Hera was shocked. She almost dropped her spoon. "If the deadly nineteen year old can't handle simple observation, then that's fine." As he stopped Hera rolled her eyes.

"That's a ridiculous attempt to get me to stay." She replied. Then there were three minutes of silence in which Hera ate her late breakfast quietly and Blunt checked his computer screen. "I'll stay." Hera finally gave in and looked across to the screen suspended above the breakfast table in the kitchen. "But what if we meet; I live opposite him now!" She put her bowl down and brought her knees up to her chest, correcting her dress as she did so. "I'm not even going to be in disguise-"

"You know you don't need a disguise." Blunt reassured her. "You are more than capable." He said and she ran a hand through her hair. "Alright?" He said after a few moments and Hera frowned.

"Alright." She replied and reached across for a remote control; at the click of a button the screen went blank and metal blinds lifted from the kitchen windows. Hera jumped off the table and put her bowl in the sink. She walked back to her living room and looked through the window. She could just make out Alex walking from his house; he walked past police, which meant he had probably had his questioning. She was the first to be questioned and as soon as they knew her identity, the interrogation was over. She figured they'd do the same for Alex. She sighed as she watched his figure walk away; she'd have to follow him now.

***

Sabina was stood at the entrance of her university; she'd finished her lectures an hour ago and Alex said he'd see her at twelve. It was now one o'clock and she was growing impatient. Last night had seen the beginning of a small crack forming in the foundations of their relationship; he was in love with someone else. How could she possibly stand by him when he wasn't completely devoted to her? She loved him more than anything but it still wasn't enough. She ran a hand through her hair wearily and sighed.

"Sabina!" She looked up and saw Alex across the street, walking towards her. She smiled at him and walked forwards.

"Hey," She said as he reached her and embraced her and turned her head away from him so his lips caught her cheek. Before he had time to say anything about her actions, she spoke again; "where are we going?" She asked and Alex forced a smile but kept his mouth shut. He took her hand and pulled her after him. "Alex?" She asked, "come on, tell me-"

"It's a surprise!" He said and she laughed, held onto his arm tighter and they walked away from the university. Unknown to them, Alex's new shadow stood across the street, trying to pretend she didn't feel anything. Heck, she even decided to smile despite the fact that her heart was slashed to pieces. Pulling her summer hat further down to cover the fact that her eyes were burning red, she walked after them.

***

"Oh, Alex!" Sabina squealed and squeezed his arm affectionately as they walked through the hotel entrance and into the foyer. "You do listen to me." She muttered and Alex smiled. The hotel was like a beautiful glass house with marble floors and low chandeliers.

"I'm starving." Alex said and pulled her through to the restaurant that was surprisingly busy for this time of the day. As Sabina marveled at the paintings that adorned the ceiling and the tables overflowing with cakes and pastries, Alex guided her through the crowded room to their table. They sat down and Alex was relived to see Sabina smile broadly at him and take his hand. Should he tell her what happened? Should he tell her that the girl who shares the colour of his eyes was seen on his street? No; he couldn't do it. Seeing Sabina smile like that, it's all he really wanted.

"What?" Sabina asked with a small laugh. "What?" She said more urgently as he remained silent.

"Nothing." Alex shook his head. From the entrance of the hotel's restaurant, Hera stood and removed her sunglasses and hat. She lowered them slowly in her hands for this was the closest she had been to Alex yet; she could make out his face! Her eyes softened as, for the first time in three years she glimpsed the blue eyes and mess of blonde hair. He was still handsome, but there was something…something missing from him that meant he wasn't the same. What was it that had changed? She couldn't quite figure it out. As though in a daze, she walked forwards and sat down at a table shaded by plants and partially blocking her from Alex's view was a pillar of stone. She peered past the pillar and almost cringed as, like a silly schoolgirl with a crush, she smiled and sighed. Over the years Hera had become so used to her work that like a sixth sense she perceived the danger before she saw it. Twisting in her chair she cast a secret glance to the bar and saw a waiter with a tray of two drinks, pour white powder from a small bottle into one of the drinks.

She raised an eyebrow; Scorpia was losing their touch if they thought that could get past her or kill the formidable Alex Rider. As the waiter walked past her she smirked and stood up. She mirrored the waiter's walk across the room, and placed her glasses and hat back on as she did so. The waiter still had a way to walk to get to Alex. Hera stopped at a table where a businessman, only a few years older than her, was having lunch alone. She smiled as she saw he was eating steak.

"Hello," she said and sat down. The waiter was ten meters from Alex's table. The businessman looked outraged for a second before looking her up and down, watching her lean forwards in a seductive manner and smiled at her.

"Good afternoon," he said smoothly and adjusted his tie. The waiter had to wait for a group of women to cross his path. The man at the table was young but ageing rapidly, probably due to the stress of his work and she could tell she intrigued him.

"You look like a man who would enjoy a good story." She said in such a quiet voice he had to lean forwards to hear her. The waiter had begun to move again.

"I suppose-"

"There was a man," she began, not waiting to hear what he had to say, "a single man." She held up a gloved hand and raised a finger to indicate one man, "who took on an army of two thousand." She took a sip of the businessman's drink. The waiter was five meters away. "Can you guess how he won the war?" The man shook his head. Four meters. "He made everyone look right," she pointed to the right and the man, curious as to what she was talking about, looked right. Three meters. She picked up his steak knife that was jagged and sharp. Two meters" And he attacked from the left." She threw the knife. Less than a second later, for the throw had been that fast and powerful, the waiter stood with a knife in his chest. He looked down at Alex as Sabina screamed. The waiter fell to the floor, gasping for breath. Many people began to shout and scream in terror and when the gentleman who was about to eat his steak, turned left and saw the steak knife protruding from the red stain on the man's chest. He looked quickly to the woman in front of him and gasped. She was gone.

Alex stood up, grabbed Sabina's hand and tried to calm her down but the girl was almost hysterical. He began to run, pulling Sabina after him, he ran out of the restaurant and turned to her. He had to shake her to get her to calm down.

"Sabina!" He shouted at her and the authority in his voice made her instantly quiet. He looked from her, back into the restaurant and as he did so he saw, at the back of the restaurant, a woman walking up the stairs quickly. She wasn't dressed like staff and what innocent person would run from the scene of a murder? "Get home!" He shouted at Sabina and walked away, back into the hotel's restaurant.

"What about you?" Sabina called but he had no time to answer, he gained speed until he ran straight through the restaurant and to the back stairs. They led straight to the roof. He took one last glance back at the horrific scene in the restaurant before running up the stairs.

***

Hera could hear someone running up the stairs behind her; the sounds from the restaurant were dying down and she could hear the sound of shoes against the stone stairs. She ran faster and had to hold on to her hat to prevent it falling off. She came to a door and had to kick it open; it was wooden and fairly old so it did not take a lot of her strength to force it open. Sunlight stream through the dust that had risen as she had ran and she walked out into the sunshine. She was on the roof of the hotel and looked around for a route of escape. There was none; there were no stairs, no fire escape but she didn't need anything. She ran towards the sun and stood on the very edge of the roof; Hera was a talented free runner, meaning she needed no support but acrobatic movement to slither her way down the back of the building. She heard the footsteps stop and she froze; it could only mean that the person was right behind her and she knew it could only be him.

Alex shielded his eyes as the dazzling sunlight blinded him, he could see the figure of the woman with her back to him. Slowly, the figure turned around. He could make out no face; against the sun she was simply a silhouette. They stood in silence, Alex squinting at the woman and she simply stared at him. Hera took a deep breath; there he was, stood right in front of her, for the first time in years. She smiled at him and, with her back to the streets below, jumped.

"No!" Alex held out his hand as though trying to reach her but it was useless. As though he were watching it in slow motion, he took in every detail he could of the silhouette as the woman jumped and arched her back in the air. Alex cursed; he could see nothing of her face, he couldn't tell who it was for she just appeared a as a dark figure against the light. At least, he wouldn't have been able to see who it was, were it not for what happened next. As she jumped, the sunlight caught a pear-shaped diamond on a silver chain and it shimmered in the golden light above her before it, and the woman, fell and disappeared from view. Alex ran forwards and reached the edge of the roof. Looking down he could not see her. But he knew, the cut of the diamond, the expert jump, the curves of her body. She was here. Hera had come back to him.

***

Please comment if you like where this is going! :)


	5. Electric Feel

* * *

 

Hera landed softly in a carpeted room of the hotel and looked around quickly. No one was around, the room, which looked like a library of sorts, was empty but she could hear the busy noises of the restaurant below. It had been a few minutes since the murder; surely things would have calmed down by now? She didn't really care, she just needed to get out of here before Alex found her. After she had jumped she grasped the stone ledge on the wall of the hotel and jumped through a window. It had been pretty easy considering she hadn't had time to check the layout of the wall. She walked through the library and glimpsed some of the titles of books and it was in that moment when her head was turned, that the businessman stepped out from the shadows. She turned to him quickly and managed to block his punch but was not ready for the glass vase in his other hand. It collided with the side of her head and she stumbled backwards. She looked towards the man who stood, panting from the effort, in front of her. She saw him call for the police and run out of the room before her eyes blurred with a red coloured tint and she fell to her knees. She had to keep moving, she had to get out of here. But her knees felt like they were burning as they scraped against the wooden floor, her eyes were drooping and she could feel consciousness slipping away. She swore in her head, wondering how she dropped her guard so easily and have a mere civilian knock her unconscious. She lay down on the floor, put a hand to her wound to feel the damage but the darkness came quicker than usual so she closed her eyes and let it take her.

* * *

 

Alex ran through the hotel knowing that Sabina would be worried by now, that she'd be calling him and that she'd be scared. But every time he thought of her, the image of that girl jumping away from him, came back into his mind and he felt a sudden exhilaration as adrenaline raced through his veins. He wasn't sure how to feel; a murderer had come back into his life, a murderer he had once loved. He had no idea what…Alex stopped running. He was stood in a corridor in the hotel and could've sworn that as he had run past the library he glimpsed someone lying on the floor. He took a few steps backwards and slowly turned his head to view the room.

Alex had to close his eyes and open them again to make sure what he was seeing was real. He put a hand to his mouth and slowly went down to his knees and he stayed at the doorway, just staring ahead. There she was; Hera lay unconscious in the middle of the library. It was definitely her, of course it was, who else had that tanned skin and waves of brown, shimmering hair? Who else, at the age of nineteen, could make that dark blue summer dress look as stunning as she did? Who else was beautiful enough to make his heart stop like that? He took a deep, shuddering breath as he tried to calm down when he saw the pear-shapes diamond hanging from the chain around her neck. In fact Alex was so preoccupied with looking at her face and how her body had changed that he noticed the cut on her forehead at least three minutes later. He stood up and walked towards her, looking at the cut he could see it was not deep but the bruising that was forming indicated it had been a hard hit. That's probably why she was unconscious. He reached forwards and moved her hair away from her wound and as his fingers brushed her skin a strange sense of electricity flickered between their connection.

Shouts sounded from below and Alex could hear people running towards the library. He thought quickly and in a second made a decision he knew he would regret. He knelt down and picked Hera up. He knew he wasn't thinking straight; he should just let those men come and find her, why was he protecting her? When he stood up again he looked down to her and smiled as he noticed she had grown; her head reached a higher place on his chest and her legs and arms were longer too. He stepped out of the library and cursed himself as his eyes never left her face and he'd wasted precious seconds. He heard the footsteps getting louder and checked the corridor was empty before running in the opposite direction.

* * *

 

Hera's blue eyes flickered open. She had a terrible headache and as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the room she became aware that this environment was unfamiliar to her. She found herself in a bed and was too comfortable to move but knew she had to figure out where she was. She sat up slowly to prevent herself becoming dizzy and threw the blanket off herself. She was still in her dress but her shoes were at the side of the bed. She instinctively felt her neck and was relieved to find her necklace was still there. She moved her legs over the side of the bed so she could stand up but before she did the door to the room opened. She shielded her eyes from the light as it poured in behind the person that entered. They walked closer to her and as he came into the light that fell on him from the lamp at her bedside, Hera stared up at her.

"Sabina?" Hera croaked. The other girl sat down beside Hera and after staring down at the glass of water in her hands, Sabina handed it to her. Hera drank quickly and placed the glass on the bedside table. Hera had always felt intimidated by Sabina and that was saying a lot considering Hera was not intimidated by mass murderers. But Hera always felt Sabina was prettier, smarter, more attractive than her because, in the end, Alex went back to Sabina.

"I don't know," Sabina began quietly, "what's going on, or what you're doing here, but Alex asked me to keep you here." She took a deep breath and Hera felt her cut on her forehead, someone had cleaned the cut and put a plaster there. "He's downstairs, talking to  _them_ ," Hera guessed she meant MI6. There was a minute of silence in which neither knew what to say. "Hera," Sabina turned to her and Hera looked over to her with those blue eyes that made Sabina gasp; they were the same colour as his. "I don't want to lose him." Sabina said in earnest.

"I'm not here to get him to come back." Hera confirmed, "or to take him from you in any way," she continued, "I'm here to keep him safe; something we both want." Hera smiled and Sabina nodded.

"Alright, I think-"

"But it will become difficult." Hera reminded her, "I'm going to be around a lot. Alex will spend a lot of time with me. It'll hurt," she said bluntly. "But you just have to remember that," she hesitated, "he loves you." Sabina smiled as she said it. "And if it gets too hard, if you want to leave, please,  _please,_ leave when Alex asks you." Hera said quickly and Sabina didn't understand.

"When he  _asks_ me?" Sabina said with distaste.

"He loves you enough to protect you and if he is in too much danger he will ask you to leave," Hera explained quickly. "He  _needs_ you now," she added, "so please stay with him-" Sabina stood up suddenly.

"I'm not going anywhere," she snapped and Hera didn't get why she was angry, "unlike you, I know where my loyalty lies." Hera knew this statement wasn't true at all; Hera knew exactly who to be loyal to but she didn't want to upset Sabina anymore than she already was. Sabina walked out of the room and from the hallway called back; "go to the basement."

* * *

 

"I don't care that you lied, Mrs Jones," Alex said to the image of the woman on the TV screen, "I just want to know what the hell is going on." Alex was stood in the middle of the basement, talking to Mrs Jones through Alpha. They'd been talking for at least twenty minutes and he'd brought Hera home about an hour ago. For half that time he had simply sat by her bedside and stared at her, wondering how someone so angelic could be capable of causing death. He'd come down here to talk to Mrs Jones but she wouldn't say anything until Blunt was present.

"We have to wait for Hera and…" Her voice faded away as she heard the basement door open and someone begin to descend into the room. "I'll leave you two to catch up for a while and contact you as soon…" But Alex wasn't listening, he was watching the stairs as he heard her make her way to him. The pretty blue dress, similar to the one he had last seen her in, came into view and then suddenly, before he was ready, that forgotten girl was stood on the steps in front of him.

* * *

  **Kudos/Comments appreciated!**


	6. Insomniacs

* * *

"Hello, stranger," Hera said almost under her breath for she found not many words could come to her. He left her breathless as a strange fire began to burn through her veins when he looked at her with such quiet determination that he would not be the first to crumble. He was just as wonderful as when they last met; he made her heart ache with that feeling of want and need. He had undone the first few buttons of his crisp, white shirt and Hera's eyes followed the buttons and looked away as her mouth became drier and she had to swallow hard. His beautiful blue eyes looked her up and down slowly and he began to feel that familiar sense of danger when she was around and he had forgotten, or perhaps never appreciated, it's seductive quality. Many men could understand this emotion that was taking Alex over; for when Hera looked at you with those sharp, diamond-blue eyes and her soft, full lips opened slightly to take a breath, it broke all bonds to common sense that you had.

 

"Hera," was all he could say and she took a step off the stairs. She was only a meter away from him and he wanted, so badly, to hold her again. But he knew he couldn't. He had to remind himself of what she was, what she had become. There were a few more moments of agonizing silence, which were so painful that they both noticed, but did not point out, the tears that came to them. Suddenly, Hera took a step beside him and looked around the room.

"I remember this room." She said and Alex noticed the quaver in her voice. She took another step forwards so she had her back to him. He turned to her and wiped his eyes on his sleeve hurriedly. She blinked away tears furiously and pointed to a black leather couch, "I slept there once." She said nonchalantly. "And there," she pointed to his desk, "you cleaned my wounds." Hera said and tried so desperately not to let her voice tremble any longer. She put her arm down and bowed her head, focusing completely on not thinking about him, of how much she wanted him.

"Hera," Alex said again and just watched her back, willing her with all his might for her to turn around. "You're here to protect me?" He asked and she turned to him.

"Yes." She fiddled for a moment with a silver bracelet on her arm, "Scorpia have risen from the dead." Hera muttered, "they want you, but you know too much about MI6." She ran a hand through her long, chocolate coloured hair. Alex did not look at her but nodded.

"Why you?" He asked and looked directly at her. She jumped slightly when he spoke so harshly.

"I'm on vacation." She said simply. They looked at each other, Alex looked uncomprehending for a second, before they smiled bashfully.

"Some vacation." He commented and she laughed. "The biker?" She nodded, "and the waiter?" She nodded again with a smile and put a hand to her mouth. Alex wished she wouldn't do that, he loved seeing her smile, it made him grin too. "How did you…?" He tapped his head and she put a hand to her forehead to feel the damage.

"I ruined someone's lunch." Was all she said and Alex ran a hand through his blonde locks and slowly, as the silence carried on, their smiles faded. Hera pointed up the stairs.

"Sabina…lives here?" Alex missed the hope in her voice that she was wrong but he nodded. "Oh," she forced a smile, she was good at this; pretending she was fine when she wasn't. "I like her." She said as though consenting to his living arrangements. They stood awkwardly again and Hera fiddled with her bracelet some more.

"Do you…have anyone?" Alex asked but Hera shook her head with a smile. Alex cracked his knuckles, a gesture Hera was familiar with; he did this when angry or nervous and in return she bit her lip. Alex watched her do this and took a deep, shuddering breath, he had always loved her lips.

"You know," Hera began and there was something, almost angry, in her voice that made Alex look at her in surprise. "When you screamed at me, all those years ago," she closed her eyes and when she opened them they were glazed over with tears. "And I ran away from you?" Alex was speechless with the sudden change in atmosphere that he nodded, "I waited, for years,  _years,_ for you to follow me." Her brow furrowed as she remembered this pain she had to endure. "But you didn't. You didn't even try!" She shouted at him, "and slowly, I tried to forget you." Hera wiped her eyes and looked at him. "Why, Alex?" She prompted him but was scared when he looked at her with angered eyes. Alex moved forwards and grabbed her shoulders.

"You think you were the one who was hurting?" He snarled at her and her bottom lip trembled as his hands dug into her arms. "You think I could forget you so easily?" Alex snapped and shook her violently, "Hera!" He shouted to get her attention and when she opened her eyes both were caught off guard of how close they were. Their faces were mere inches away and their bodies were pushed up against each other as Alex forced her to him. "Not a single night goes by where I don't think about you." His harsh voice lowered to a whisper. Where I don't want you." His eyes skimmed her terrified face, "where I don't need you." He let go of her and took a step back as Hera winced and massaged her arms. "And then I remember…what you are." He shook his head and with a sick smile, looked to those blue eyes, "a murderer." He was surprised when she laughed.

"And what were you?" She snapped and her eyes narrowed on him. "Redeem yourself Alex!" She shouted when he said nothing, "tell me, how innocent you were compared to me?" When he remained silent, she laughed again. "How can you call me a murderer? I was saving lives-"

"But after a while you never felt anything!" Alex yelled, "at first you cared, you repented! And then you just," he searched for a good way to put it, "became such a cold killer. You didn't care who died-"

"Get over it." Was all Hera could say, "I was doing my job. I was serving this country." She held out her hands to him, "half the blood that is on these hands, you share it." She murmured. "You can't escape your past Alex." The tension between them died out as she said this. The suspense and anger that was in each of them, seemed to fizzle away.

"I'm sorry." Alex said quickly, "for hurting your arms," Hera, who had become hopeful that he was coming back to her, rolled her eyes as she realized there was no hope. "But I don't regret leaving you." Alex said with more confidence, "I love Sabina now." The sentence hung in the air.

"I didn't ask for anything from you." Hera said bitterly. "I live opposite you now and, like it or not, I'm going to protect you." Alex nodded. "So you may see a lot more of me."

"Stay here for the night," Hera was shocked that Alex proposed this, "you're head is probably still sore-"

"I don't need you to take care of me Alex," and for once, Alex could tell, she was being completely sincere when she smiled. "I'm going to go home now." She walked up to him and when she came to his side she stopped. "I don't know what's happening here. Between you and I." She looked away from him as he turned his head to her. "But, for Sabina's sake…and since you won't become entangled with a murderess…I suggest we keep this professional."

"I could think of no better way." Alex agreed with disdain.

"Goodbye, Alex."

"Goodbye, Hera." And with that the girl walked away from him. Alex turned to see her ascend the stairs and as she did a strange sense of his stomach sinking, came to him. Why had he said those things to her? Why had he let things get so out of control? He ran a hand through his hair and tugged at it roughly. Why couldn't he just put his feeling aside? It was her fault; she made him feel so-

"Alex?" Sabina called from the hallway and Alex ran up the stairs. He saw her in the corridor and followed her eye as she looked out of the front door. They watched Hera walk across the street and enter her house. "That was Mrs Rum on the phone," Sabina said quietly, "she's having a party to welcome Hera to the street." Alex did not find this strange like Sabina did for Sabina had seen the cold, deadly, real Hera but around others Hera was an angel. "It's tomorrow at seven." Alex nodded and Sabina leant against his chest, he took her in his arms and kissed her head. Trying to persuade himself that this is where he should be.

* * *

 

_-Three years ago-Veince-2.05 AM_

Hera stood, dripping wet, in the hotel bathroom. She was shivering and as tears mingled with the raindrops on her skin, she held up her hands to see the fresh, oozing blood of another man, drip and slide its way across her slender fingertips. It was the night of her first assassination. She hadn't meant to do it but she couldn't let the man live or else such terrible things would happen. But that did not stop her feeling dirty, feeling used and as though a part of her was being shred to pieces. She coughed and it came out more of a sob as she looked to her feet and saw a small pink puddle was forming around her feet. Slowly, the more she thought about it, the quicker her breaths became, the faster the tears flowed and the louder of her sobbing became. But she still stood, in the same spot, in the same pose, like a small child would. Just letting the tears wash it all away.

"Hera!?" She heard his voice shout from her room. She wrapped her arms around herself and began to shiver. "Hera?!" The voice came again and the bathroom door swung open. Alex, still in his suit, looked her up and down before standing to his full height and walking confidently to her. He had spent half an hour drying himself but didn't care as he took her in his arms and put his forehead against hers. As she felt his warmth around her, her sobbing calmed down, her breaths still shuddered but lessened and the tears continued to flow silently. She put her fingers to her lips and bit her nails as though she were a little girl that had done something wrong and Alex looked down to her as she put her head against his chest. "We have to clean you up." He said quietly and Hera nodded. Alex slowly, for he did not want to frighten her, removed his jacket and then undid the zip of her dress. It fell to the floor and she stood, not looking at him but at some pace in the distance. Alex did not mind seeing her like this, he just wanted her to be dry and safe.

And so began one of the longest nights of their lives as it seemed to take an eternity for Alex to wash the blood from every place it had seeped to. He put her in dry clothes, dried her hair and walked her to the bedroom. Alex had never seen a reaction like this. Never in all his time, even his first killing, which only gave him restless nights, had not been so severe. But Hera's first killing was very different. It was not planned, it was not orchestrated and it was not meant to happen. Hera had killed her father.

Alex lead her to the bed and she sat down. She looked up at him and he knew, from the way her big blue eyes shimmered from tears as he was about to walk away, that she needed him now, more than ever. Hera moved back into the bed and lay down, Alex followed her and when he lay down next to her she turned away from him. Alex followed her position by lying on his side. Neither said anything for nothing needed to be said. This night marked the beginning of many things for the two teenage spies; firstly, there were no longer any distances between them. It was also the start of how they would always sleep; side by side, every mission, every time they were together and in that time, they never touched each other, never held each other. It was also the beginning of their insomnia.

* * *

 

_Present day-London-2.05 AM_

Hera was stood at her bedroom window, looking out onto her new street. Looking over at his house, wondering what he was doing, if he still suffered from insomnia like she did. Hera looked down to the bottle of pills in her hands and remembered that night he had helped her get through the most awful pain she had ever felt. She had never really thanked him properly. Hera put the pills on her dressing table and went to her bed. As she felt the soft, silken sheets she remembered that she had never needed to take pills when Alex was with her. So she lay down and closed her eyes and felt him lying next to her.

* * *

 

Across the street, that very same boy looked down to those very same pills as he stood at his kitchen sink. Alex sighed; what was the point in loving someone so much that it hurt? He didn't love her anymore anyway. She was lost to him, wasn't she? He unscrewed the lid of the bottle of pills and poured the pills down the sink. He didn't need them anymore. Now that she was here with him.

* * *

 

**Kudos/Comments appreciated!**


	7. Insomniacs

"So, Tom called last night," Sabina muttered as she opened the fridge to retrieve the milk, "and I told him you'd phone him back." She stopped to think about what she was doing; put the milk in the tea and then hand it to Alex. She held out the milk carton to him after pouring milk into her tea. "But you didn't." Sabina had kept her eyes forward as she stirred her tea and so did not see that Alex wasn't moving from the table. When he didn't take the milk, she turned around to him. He was sat at the breakfast table, engulfed by the newspaper he was reading; Sabina had very little patience when it came to Alex not paying attention to her. "Alex?" She asked loudly and he took a sip of his orange juice and replied without taking his eyes off the words in front of him.

"Yeah, brilliant." He murmured and she rolled her eyes.

"Then Hera called-" At the mention of her name, Alex's attention snapped over to Sabina. The moment of intense adrenaline was lost as Alex realized his mistake as she looked to the floor, a feeling of inadequacy seeped from her. Alex put down the paper.

"Sabina-"

"Call Tom back." She said simply and Alex nodded but when he kept looking at her she sighed. "Hera didn't call." She explained, "it's just the easiest way to get your attention." Sabina said quietly. They stood in awkward silence for a little while, in which Alex felt terrible because Sabina stood, straightening her skirt and putting hair behind her ear. Alex ran a hand through his hair wearily.

"When you mention her I automatically think it's about MI6." Alex answered her disappointed look. "Nothing else." Sabina looked to his eyes and saw he wasn't lying; a sigh of relief came from her. He looked to his watch before standing up, moving forwards and kissing her goodbye. "I have to go," Alex said and she put a hand to his face.

"What do you think of when you hear my name?" She whispered and Alex leant towards her ear to reply.

* * *

 

"The death of a cyclist, in Chelsea yesterday morning, has alerted police to possible terrorist suspects residing in the area…" The news continued with the woman with a painted smile and crisp, white suit, talking about matters that she had no idea of. Hera scoffed and continued to eat her bowl of cereal in discontented silence; MI6 had clearly done a rubbish job of covering up her escapades yesterday morning. She brought her knees up to her chest and held her bowl in one hand while checking her plaster on her forehead. Alex was always good at clearing up the wounds she got, he'd done it many times and she tried, so hard, to remember what his touch felt like. His hands weren't rough, but not soft either, a sort of firm confidence came in the way he touched her. Hera closed her eyes as she felt the warm, stinging flesh beneath the plastic and sighed. She looked over to her wardrobe; she'd have to pick out a hat with a low brim to cover it up. "We will inform you as this story develops." The woman on TV said and Hera put her bowl down on the bedside table and stood up.

She looked at herself in the full-length mirror opposite. Hera was in no way vain. Well, she was as vain as any woman but to constantly primp and pamper herself just seemed a waste of time. She often looked in mirrors, not to see how she looked at that moment or how she could look better, but she liked to see how much she looked like her mother. Over years she had seen her eyes, her lips, her face, transform into those that her mother had. And she was the only parent that Hera was proud of. She had passed away some time before her 13th birthday and even though Hera could not remember every detail, she could remember the warmth of her mother's embrace, the smile that would light her face and the kindness of that woman. Her father, on the other hand, from whom she had inherited her golden skin colour and darker hair, was a parent she was less proud of. Hera never thought about him, because he was the reason Alex left her, he was the reason for why misery seemed to love her.

Hera looked around the bedroom she had been given; everything was either cream-coloured or made of glass. She smiled as she saw the photographs they had made of her in different places with her "family." It was an amazing house but just too big for one person; Alex had never lived alone in one of these houses. As soon as Jack Starbright had left, he had a few weeks without her and couldn't hack living alone so went to Hera's apartment. Thinking about it now, Hera actually laughed as she had remembered waking up one morning and finding him next to her. She was so used to his presence that she never even asked him how he had managed to break into her apartment. Hera walked to her dressing table and let her fingers stroke the crystal perfume bottles and curves of glass that made up her mirror. She liked the cold touch of glass, like the smooth, frozen feeling of the metal of a gun. It was…comforting.

Hearing the first commotions of the morning traffic, she walked away from the table, past the bed and over to the window. Looking out she saw him emerge from his front door and when Alex leant back to kiss Sabina, Hera couldn't help but feel a small pang of disappointment in her stomach. He was on his way to college and she was supposed to make sure he got there, keep an eye on him all day and so had been assigned a regular job as a cover to stay near him. As she watched him walk from the house and along his street, she could no longer deny that the feeling of her heart slowly burning to pieces was just a reminder of how irrevocable and distressing and profound and painful, her love was for him.

* * *

 

Alex entered school with that familiar sense of boredom; school was just a reminder of his days with MI6. Even though he attended the sixth form here, it was still strange to see the same teachers, the same faces, the same buildings…it was just so mundane after his adventures as a teenage spy. He saw the school secretary, Jane Bedfordshire, walk into the building to start a new school day. She had always had a soft spot for him and waved when their eyes met, Alex held up a hand in greeting and continued to walk to the school's car park. It was incredibly early to be in school; lessons started in two hours, but Alex's friend, Tom Harris, had asked him to come in early. Apparently, Tom had something to show him in the car park and Alex was more than reluctant to find out what it was.

Tom Harris was Alex's best friend at school and was the only person, besides Sabina, who knew about Alex's affiliation with MI6. Like Alex, Tom was repeating his last year of school; he had never been the academic type but sport was his forte. And with an elder brother into extreme sports, Tom was also introducing Alex to dangerous and exhilarating things. Alex was just not in the mood for it right now; it's difficult to be optimistic when someone is trying to kill you. Alex passed the main building of the school and entered the car park. He stopped dead.

"Alex!" A voice said from behind him and someone hit him playfully on the shoulder. Alex jumped and turned to see the bright, blue eyes and spiky black hair that belonged to Tom Harris. "Now I know what you're going to say-"

"Tom," was all Alex said and gestured to the monstrosity that Alex had been shocked by. Tom had been bullied years ago and so had lost a lot of confidence through this, but when he became friends with Alex, his confidence came racing back and he'd even stayed on as Captain of the football team at Brookland. He was always trying new things. But this was just ridiculous.

"Isn't it amazing-"

"Isn't it  _illegal_?" Alex interrupted. They were stood in front of a Toyota Supra, black with numerous scratches and dents but that's not what Alex was concerned about; the hood of the car was up and Alex could see the engine had been upgraded. "What is that?" Alex asked and the distaste in his voice did not go unnoticed by Tom who simply rolled his eyes at the other boy's tone and walked over to the car. His hands skimmed the edge of the metal and he looked at the engine proudly.

"This, is the Wartsila-Sulzer," Tom said with a grin, "RTA96-C, turbocharged, two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful in the world…apart from the engines used in the F1." He exclaimed with great excitement that even made Alex smile. "My brother introduced me to it." He muttered under his breath and, with a thick-gloved hand, stroked the engine affectionately.

"So you can apply yourself to building this monster but when it comes to Maths-"

"Hey, hey, hey." He waved a warning finger at Alex, "this is no monster." Tom sighed as he saw Alex looked unimpressed, "what's wrong, mate?" He asked seriously for he knew Alex would usually react differently but Alex was not excited at all. The blonde looked to his friend, looked him in the eye before that common understanding of trust came between them and Alex walked towards Tom. He stopped a meter from the car.

"Someone is trying to kill me." Alex said and was so grateful, unbelievably grateful that Tom did not gasp, nor smile, nor look away and shake his head with a look of disbelief. Instead he folded his arms, adopted a look of interest, and waited for Alex to continue. "It's Scorpia," Alex said, wondering how much Tom remembered, "but I have people watching me so I'll be alright." Suddenly, Alex's serious voice changed to the one he used among friends, "this means government agents are following me. This means any illegal things going on around me…like street racing," Alex pointedly tilted his head to the car, "are better left behind closed doors for a while." Tom looked like a small child that had been told off before a lopsided smile crossed his face.

"Someone's trying to kill you?" Tom whispered, "cool-"

"No, it's not cool." Alex said sternly but couldn't help but smile as Tom grinned. Before Tom could beg Alex to join him in a test drive, Alex grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Listen, we have to go to Mrs Rum's house tonight; it's a welcome party for a girl that moved into our street," he explained quickly with a shrug, hoping to hide the importance of Hera from Tom, "do you want to come?" Tom thought for a moment and looked longingly to the vehicle, evidently he had wanted to work on it some more. But seeing Alex look of:  _it's-going-to-be-me-and-a-bunch-of-old-ladies,_ he couldn't help but agree to come.

* * *

 

Alan Blunt was stood at the window in his office that overlooked the part of London he liked. The part with the museums, Exhibition Road, that university that he lectured at once, South Kensington. It was a nice part, the best part, of London because he knew it well. He knew it's ins and outs, everything that was happening in every building, in every room. In ever place he had some sort of control, some power, some influence. Some of the biggest companies in this part of London had to do everything he ordered and yet, he could not control a nineteen-year-old girl. Where had he gone wrong? Why couldn't Hera just listen to him, what part of her made her so intent to rebel against him? A knock came from his door and he looked at his reflection in the window, straightened his tie and turned to the door.

"Come in," he called and was not surprised to see Mrs Jones enter his room. She seemed slightly surprised to see him stood up, not at his desk working, but she thought nothing of it as she approached with a sheaf of papers in her hands. There was no time for niceties.

"These are records of Hera's most recent exploits." As she said it she saw Blunt's lip twitch with annoyance; everything that girl did was just a hindrance. But Mrs Jones had no time to be polite with him; she had been researching Hera's files and could not believe what she had found.

"I know all her mission…" Blunt faltered as Mrs Jones gave him a knowing look and he held out his hand for the papers. "What am I looking at?" He snapped, and looked down to simply see the files of suspected terrorists.

"They were all under surveillance, soon to be killed, Hera was never ordered to assassinate them but she did." Mrs Jones said urgently and Blunt shrugged; he was not surprised by this. Hera had often silenced people and prevented future world wars before they had a chance to form.

"She can sometimes have very good judgment," Blunt tried to explain the girl's actions, "it saves us time killing them ourselves-"

"You aren't slightly concerned as to why she did this?" Jones couldn't quite get over Blunt's calm approach to the situation. Blunt looked up from the papers with a cold, hard stare that made Mrs Jones think twice about raising her voice again. Blunt sat down and gestured for Mrs Jones to do the same, she sat down opposite him.

"Explain to me, first," Blunt murmured quietly, "why this is of any importance?" Mrs Jones took a deep breath before replying.

"Hera silenced these men and women in the space of a month," she said as slowly as she could, "fourteen men and women." Blunt shrugged and waited for her to continue, "she did so without our consent-"

"They were on the list to be destroyed anyway!" Blunt argued and Mrs Jones shook her head.

"These were the members of the newly reformed Scorpia!" She exclaimed in a tone of desperation and Blunt's eyes widened. "Look at the dates they were killed," he did. They had all died three months ago. "Our first threat from Scorpia was sent two months ago," Blunt looked up to Mrs Jones and had a similar look of horror. "Who has been sending these threats?"

* * *

**Kudos/Comments appreciated :)**


	8. Cherries

"Let me get this straight," Hera said with such sharp, bitter, repulsion, "you think I killed all the members of Scorpia and now I'm posing as them to kill my old partner, Alex Rider?" Even as she said it, she saw the faces of Blunt and Jones go blank on her TV screen. "Answer me." She said slowly when neither spoke. Mrs Jones plucked up the courage first and she also knew that Hera was not one to be mollycoddled. The teenager stood, in front of the TV, hands on hips, pouting at them as though daring them to ask her anything else.

"Why kill all the members of Scorpia in such short time?" Jones asked in a childish tone, as though trying desperately to prove Hera wrong.

"I  _hate_ ," she choked out the word, "those people. They took my mother, they took my father," she paused, "they took Alex." Hera closed her eyes and pointed an accusing finger at the two on the screen, "they fucked up my life," she spat out as though she had been given poison, "they took everyone I loved!" She screamed before calming down. "The sooner the world was rid of them, the better." Hera whispered and wiped her eyes. "I had my revenge," she said smoothly, "and it was pretty damn sweet." There was a pause, for two minutes Jones and Blunt pretended they were reading but Hera knew what they were doing; biding time, waiting for her to break.

"You told us Scorpia contacted you," Blunt said suddenly and Hera looked lazily over to him. "They said they wanted you to go after Rider-"

"You've heard of Il Generale?" Hera asked quietly. Il Generale was the myth of all gangs. He was said to be the boss, The General, of the four most vicious and powerful terrorist organizations in the world. One of them being the newly reformed Scorpia. But his existence was a myth; the all-powerful overlord was never seen or heard of or caught. He was simply the driving force when it came to rebuilding these groups. "I thought he was the one calling." She said simply, "I know I destroyed everything that Scorpia had," Hera shrugged, "so when Scorpia phone up, I'm guessing it's him- and you know no one can kill him-"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Blunt, who was usually able to retain his patience, shouted at the girl. Hera looked like she was going to retaliate, simply bit her lip and folded her arms in annoyance. The man took a moment to calm down as Mrs Jones shot him a look of surprise. " _Il Generale,_ " Blunt spat out, "does not exist-"

"Then I suggest you find out who contacted me!" Hera shouted back. "Rather than accuse me of treason." She whispered dangerously and Blunt's eyes narrowed on her. It looked like he was ready to shout again but Mrs Jones interrupted.

"Very well," she said before Blunt could press Hera any further. "You will maintain your position," Jones informed the teenager, before quickly adding; "for now. You will watch over Alex until further notice." And before Hera could start screaming at them, the screen went blank and then returned to a split screen of all the cameras put up around Alex's house so she could watch over him. The girl stood, staring at it but not really taking anything in. A strange feeling of grief and betrayal rose up to a sore lump in her throat and she ran a hand through her hair.

She had no time to think about such insignificant things; she had a cherry pie to make for Mrs Rum and she'd run out of cherries.

* * *

 

A few hours later, Alex was stood by a fish tank in Mrs Rum's house, being engulfed by the hubbub of a party and getting bored with the conversation. Alex and Sabina were always a strange pair at these events; they were half way between being adults and being teenagers so no one quite knew what to do with them. Sabina got on fine with the elderly ladies and the mums of the street, there were no girls there her age but she still chatted and drank as though she enjoyed these gatherings. He watched her greet a new mum and as Sabina peer at the baby with a childlike curiosity, it made Alex smile. Sabina was a wonderful and very beautiful person that continued to astonish him; whatever had he done to deserve her?

Alex, who, since leaving MI6, had become more withdrawn at social gatherings, didn't care where he fitted in. It was either with the boys, who were twelve, playing their computer games or annoying the girls, or there were the middle-aged men of the street. They were all very nice to him and he liked them but he found that their conversation was dry and never exciting; he figured that this is what happened when you hung out with Tom for a long time, everything seemed dull in comparison. And then one of those strange coincidences of life happened; just as he had been thinking of his friend, he saw him, out of the corner of his eye, emerge from the front door. Alex smiled and took a step forwards but stopped as soon as he saw who had walked in with Tom.

Hera entered just after Tom and stood by his side. They were talking about something that made a smile light her face and Tom stroke her arm. Alex looked her up and down slowly; trying to figure out what her agenda was and why it wasn't hidden. She wore a dress that was a few shades of brown darker than her skin; it was loose but clung to her curves tightly and Alex smirked as he saw, disappearing into the neck of the dress, was that pear shaped diamond he knew so well. She looked just as seductive and innocent as he remembered her. Right at the beginning, this is how she had been; she made everyone smile and everyone look again. Indeed, as Tom and Hera walked along the hallway together, heads turned twice to watch her go; the guests would say hello in the polite way they should and then realise what she had looked like and turn back to catch another glimpse. Alex was surprised to find that a strange feeling of jealousy lashed out inside of him and made his hand curl into a fist.

"Is this that delightful friend of yours, Alex?" Mrs Rum muttered with a smile as she walked past Alex. He could never understand why Mrs Rum had such a mother-like affection towards him and Tom but whenever Alex was around, she always wanted to see Tom too. Alex went with her to greet the two. "Hera!" Mrs Rum called to her and the girl broke out of her conversation with Tom and turned to the woman. They embraced and as they were preoccupied, Alex glanced to his friend. Tom looked like he'd run here for his hair was out of place and his cheeks were slightly pink. Mrs Rum greeted the flustered boy with a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, I baked a pie." Hera said sweetly and handed Mrs Rum the tray. While Mrs Rum was taken aback by the kind gesture, Hera looked to Alex and bowed her head in greeting, Alex nodded back. The old woman looked to the tray and then to Hera before she smiled.

"Thank you, dear." She said before she grabbed Hera's hand, "come and meet everyone!" Mrs Rum said and dragged Hera away. Alex was concerned when he watched Tom's eyes follow the way Hera's hips swayed as she walked away.

"Hey, Alex," Tom said slowly and Alex sighed; he knew what was coming. "Have you met Hera?" Tom enquired and the blonde ex-spy put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Yes, I have."

"She's really attractive, don't you think?" Tom asked and finally looked at Alex who shrugged.

"Not really." Alex lied.

"What- beautiful, smart, sexy, sweet...none of these make your list?" Tom raised an eyebrow as Alex exhaled slowly and pretended to think about it.

"Well," Alex said as though weighing up the options, "I guess- wait, how did you two meet?" He asked.

"Just outside," Tom indicated the door by jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, "we arrived at the same time." The darker haired boy moved forwards and after greeting people walking in the corridor, he and Alex stopped outside the living room and peered in. Most women were gathered around Hera who looked uncomfortable, sat in the middle of the room with so much attention on her. As the women talked amongst themselves, Hera's eyes travelled across the floor and slowly up to Tom and Alex. She caught them looking and smiled at them before a woman on her right asked her a question.

"Hera, that's a Greek name isn't it?" The lady, who dressed far older than she looked, asked and Hera nodded.

"It is," she agreed, "but the pronunciation of my name is of a different origin; the Greek pronunciation is Hare-rah, but I have the Sanskrit name: Here-a." She explained and the women, who Hera could easily guess the stereotype, all squealed and the sound of something exotic. Hera looked over to Sabina who was sat on a chair opposite and the latter girl gave her and apologetic, sympathetic look. Sabina had already undergone this probing treatment when she had first moved in, so she knew the awkward embarrassment that Hera was feeling.

"So your name is Indian?" The same woman said and Hera took a breath to speak again.

"My father was from Mumbai, in India," Hera explained and straightened her skirt, "and my mother was British." The women all adopted the similar smile that Alex used to get when he used to be considered "cute." Tom laughed at Hera's predicament; she looked so uncomfortable but then he looked to Alex and noticed his stiffness.

"Are you OK, mate?" Tom asked and Alex took another sip of fine liqueur before handing his glass to Tom. "Alex?" Tom asked as the blonde boy began to walk away from him.

"Wait here," Alex said with a wave of his hand and Tom sighed before going to say hello to Sabina. As Tom walked into the room, Hera was walking out.

"The interrogation's over?" He asked and locked eyes with her, Hera flashed him a smile.

"I think it's just beginning," she answered, "I'm definitely going to need a drink." She said and heard him laugh as she walked away. On her way to the kitchen Hera was greeted by many people who often gave a her a slow look up and down before smiling at her and letting her walk by. She didn't mind it; everyone here was nice...mainly because they had no idea who she was but at least they were nice. She entered the kitchen and the first thing she saw, like a small black hole in the corner of the kitchen, Alex was stood with a stare that shot daggers straight through her. There was no one else in the kitchen and so Hera closed the door with her foot; the sounds of the party died down to a low hum in the background. She walked over to Alex and put her hands on the table in front of her. The table separated them and seeing as Alex said nothing, simply stood staring at her, Hera poured herself a drink. It amused her that she knew so much about him; she knew that look, she'd seen it so many times, that angry, envious glare that Alex had was too familiar.

"Cheer up, love," Hera said and brought the drink to her lips, "it might never happen." Alex moved forwards and unscrewed the lid of a glass bottle, Hera watched in silence and sipped her drink.

"It's you," Alex retorted and grabbed a glass, "it will most definitely happen." Hera laughed.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd say someone's upset you-"

"Then it's a good thing that you know me better." Alex poured the golden liquid from the bottle into the glass; Hera lowered her cup from her lips and gave a disbelieving smile.

" _I've_ upset you?" She asked and knew immediately she was right when Alex shrugged. "I didn't ask for a welcome party-"

"Tom," Alex interrupted her, "is..." he had to think of an appropriate word, "interested in you." Hera lowered her gaze and bit her lip. "I can't tell him why I think he should stay the hell away from you, but I can warn you," Alex's voice lowered to a dangerous whisper, "stay away from my friend." There was a second of silence and then she laughed.

"So you can go and do whoever you want to do, and I can't?" She asked and Alex said nothing. "Talk about double standards-"

"This isn't like that-"

"You're jealous?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Alex dismissed the comment with a simple look. Hera put her glass down on the table and put her fingers to her lips.

"I want you to understand this," she said smoothly and pointed her fingers at him, "you need to get it out of your head that I care about you. Because I don't." Hera said simply. "You are a job, Alex. Just a job. That means you can keep your opinions regarding my life, to yourself. They don't mean a thing. Not a damn thing." No smirk adorned her face and for once, Alex was shocked by her. Hera was constantly surprising him, so he was used to it but he never, ever thought, he would mean nothing to her. "You cannot tell me how to live my life-"

"I can protect my friends!" Alex whispered dangerously.

"I would never endanger a civilian." Hera replied and they stared across at each other with a same sense of confused emotions. They were stuck somewhere between attraction and conflict and neither was picking a side. "I've figured it out," Hera spoke suddenly and Alex, who had been so entranced by the restlessness between them, jumped.

"Figured what out?" He snapped.

"Why it is you seem less," she thought about it, "like yourself-"

"What?"

"This isn't really Alex Rider," she muttered as her finger stroked the edge of her glass, "I haven't met with him in a while." She could see Alex was intrigued by what she was saying and so continued at a whisper. "When you worked with MI6 you were so different; you were exciting, dangerous, charming and now," she looked him up and down, "you may be breathing, but you're not living." She shook her head, "it's true what they say about you; Alex Rider is dead." There was the tiniest trickle of regret inside her as she saw his eyes soften and look away. He knew she was right; he'd changed, lost what it meant to truly be alive. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a sniper on a roof to your right." Hera said and Alex knew not to react. He simply looked at her with cold blue eyes.

"Thank you." He said, for she was going to save his life. The kitchen door opened and an ecstatic looking Mrs Rum walked in. Her smile faded as she looked between the two teenagers but then turned to her with equally convincing smiles.

"Alex was just telling me what an amazing tiramisu you make." Hera said sweetly and Mrs Rum took a moment before she smiled at Alex.

"Oh, thank you, Alex." She said and stood awkwardly as they both smiled at her. Alex's growing suspense heightened with the realisation that Hera had to leave if she were going to take out the sniper; why wasn't she moving?

"Mrs Rum, I'm going to have to pop out for a minute; I think I left my oven on." Hera said and Mrs Rum looked at Hera's sweet smile and sincere eyes before moving aside.

"Of course," she said and Hera walked out of the kitchen. On her way out she looked back and saw Alex try and coax Mrs Rum from the kitchen. He glanced up at her and she was comforted to see he nodded to her with determined eyes, thanking her silently again.

* * *

 

Less than ten minutes later, Alex was secretly impressed, the doorbell rang around Mrs Rum's house and she went to open the door. Luckily the house was so busy that no one besides those really watching, including Alex, could see that something had happened. Hera was wearing a cardigan now and her hair had come loose and he spotted a tear in her dress. She was hurt, badly. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes while pretending to be interested in what a man called John was talking about but he saw her limp and put a hand to her left shoulder as she walked past Mrs Rum. She looked perfectly fine to everyone else but he had seen her injured so many times he could tell if she simply had a scratch. Alex watched with hidden despair as she walked to the bathroom door.

As soon as Hera entered the bathroom, she groaned and almost collapsed. Holding herself up by grabbing onto the sink; she practically dragged herself to stand in front of it and looked up into the mirror. Her hair was out of place, she had scratches everywhere and bruises forming; she must've looked ridiculous coming back into the party like this. Her dress had tears in the sleeves but luckily her cardigan had hid them. Pain seared through her shoulder, where her deepest cut was and she grabbed her shoulder and then put a hand to her mouth so she could scream quietly. In a panic she removed her cardigan and as it fell to the floor she opened Mrs Rum's cupboards to find anything of use. She saw a cloth and grabbed it, as she turned the tap on, another jolt of pain ran through her and she found herself getting weaker. She held on to either side of the sink and took deep breaths; she just needed to calm down. She'd had worse battle wounds than this; she was just uncomfortable with having to be in this tiny bathroom, trying to clean the wound. That sniper had been skilled, she was almost lucky to be alive. It was hanging around civilians all the time that was making her forget how important this was. She doused the cloth with water and squeezed any excess away. Moving down the left sleeve of her dress she could just about see the cut. She grunted as she saw it was in the one place on her shoulder that she could not reach. She tried her hardest, to stretch her right hand down to that place on her left shoulder.

"Hera?" She heard Alex whisper her name from the hallway and stopped in her strange position as she tried to place the cold, damp cloth on her back. The cut was in such an awkward place that she could not reach and if she didn't clean the wound then it would become infected. She looked up to the bathroom mirror in front of her; her full lips showed that familiar pout and she sighed. It was almost as if fate was taunting her; she knew what was coming. "Hera?" Alex asked in a low voice and knocked again. She went to the door and opened it only slightly. She did not look at him but at the collar of his shirt and Alex felt a pang of guilt as he saw the state she was in. Stray strands of hair fell about her face and she pushed them roughly away from her eyes.

"Can I help you?" She snapped, clearly annoyed at being interrupted but all Alex had to do was hold out his hand and she knew what he wanted. She finally looked him in the eye and they stared at each other for a nanosecond of deep silence. "I don't need your help-"

"I saw your limp," Alex whispered urgently, "I saw you grab your shoulder before you came in here!" He said in exasperation and he saw the conflict in her eyes as she thought about it before letting him in. Hera stood away from the door and hated the fact that this bathroom was so small; there was hardly enough room for two people. As Alex had entered his eyes flicked to her bare shoulder before he looked away and held out his hand. Grudgingly, Hera handed him the dripping cloth and turned her back to him, while moving her hair to rest on her right shoulder. Alex looked at her wound and tried not to gasp; it was a deep cut and would probably take a week to heal. And she had got it because of him.

On closer inspection, Alex could see that where the skin had been cut was a tattoo. A very small one, only a centimetre in width; it was a small, black butterfly. He had never seen it before and he knew every inch of her, she must have got it when he left. Alex took a deep breath before he placed his fingertips on her shoulder and he could've sworn he felt her jump slightly at his touch. He had forgotten how warm her skin was, how soft and delicate she felt and he moved his fingers beneath the strap of her bra and slid it from her shoulder.

"Ah," Hera winced as he did this and shut her eyes as though trying to escape to some other place and stop her thinking about the butterflies in her stomach or the heat she felt slowly make its way to the surface of her skin and burn her. With one hand on her shoulder, Alex placed the damp cloth on the knife-wound on her back and his eyes flicked to the back of her head as she put her hand in her mouth and bit her flesh to stop herself groaning from the pain. Alex was surprised to find that, only for a moment, his eyes had caught on to, and admired, the way her mouth opened so her lips could push against the skin of her hand as she raked her teeth across her flesh. He looked away suddenly and could feel something, some strange feeling, a burning almost, rise up inside of him. He couldn't remember the last time he had had her so close. The liquid oozed down Hera's back and she could feel that the heat from Alex's hands had turned the water warm. "God," she whispered and Alex thought she was praying until he saw she was simply commenting on the cut she had received on her leg. She had lifted her dress past her knee and he saw, just above her patella, another cut where the blood had slid down her knee. Due to the place of the cut and the shape of her knee, the blood had oozed down like a firework; with many streams coming from the centre cut. Hera reached into the cupboard and picked out the first aid kit. She opened it, removed the dressings and handed them to Alex who took them and began to dress the wound.

"Almost done," Alex said softly and Hera nodded. Once everything, every bit of blood had been cleared away and the wound was dressed, Alex turned to the sink and washed the cloth. Hera turned to him and watched as his large hands…well, they weren't large; they were just always bigger than hers. Whenever he used to grab her hand, his own would envelop hers with its warmth and reassuring firm grip. She looked down as she remembered those times and then decided that if she did something, it would stop her mind wondering. She put the toilet lid down and went to sit there. Alex watched out of the corner of his eye, pretending to wash the blood from the sink, as she pulled up her dress again and clicked her tongue with impatience as she saw the blood.

"Damn," she muttered and took the cloth once more and quickly wiped the blood away. As she did this, Alex took out more bandages from the fist aid box and knelt down in front of her. Hera stopped when she saw him do this. He didn't look at her but she kept her eyes on his face as he wrapped the bandage around her thigh with a gentle, slow torture and she bit her lip so the pain would distract her. "Ow!" She gasped as he pulled the bandage to tighten it and a small smile lit her face when she saw him smirk at her reaction. Once Alex finished he reached across and through the dirty cloth into the bin. Hera and Alex stood at the same time.

They had not realized that they would be so close to one another. In the tiny bathroom she could feel the fabric of his clothes against her skin and she looked away as Alex looked down to her. He saw the reddening of her bare shoulder as the cut began to heal and slowly, his eyes travelled from her shoulder, along her collarbone, to her neck where his diamond hung and then her face. How could she have said he meant nothing to her, when she kept his last gift to her, so close to her heart?

She had no idea, what she did to him and he had no idea that she felt the same way. That same feeling of lonely desire; wanting more but never having it. They tried to move away from each other but found that when Hera took a step forwards, Alex stepped in the same direction and they bumped into each other. She gasped as he grabbed her arm to stop her falling, or keep her close, she couldn't tell. Hera looked up to her eyes that were so similar to hers and he stared just as intensely as she remembered he could. They were so close; her nose could stroke the side of his face if she moved only slightly and she wanted, desperately, to attempt it but knew she couldn't. So she stared back, with that assassin's glare of determination and reckless lust that she had for him.

Alex had almost stopped breathing as he looked down to her and fought the desire to push her up against the bathroom wall and do what he'd wanted to do since they first met all that time ago. There was something he had forgotten about her; the excitement and mischief that came with her glance, reminded him of the way things used to be. Of how he used to be. Alex bent down a little further so her lips were near his ear and he heard her let out a small gasp when his lips brushed her cheek. He drew back slowly, letting his lips sweep her skin before he came to her lips. Without Alex realizing it, in a sudden blur of movement, Alex had a hand on her neck and ran a hand up her thigh as Hera put a hand to his face and ran a hand through his blonde hair. Blue eyes met once more before soft lips parted and-

"Alex?!"

* * *

**Kudos/Comments appreciated!**


	9. Swallowtail

Hera and Alex froze in their embrace; the arches of their lips brushed past each other and they waited to see who would make the next move. The heat that had grown between them began to diffuse away as Alex opened his eyes and looked to Hera's face. A small smile flickered on his lips as he saw she was still in pain; her brow furrowed and her lips trembled. He shook his head.

"What are we doing, Hera?" He asked softly and she snapped her bright blue eyes open.

"What we should've done three years ago?" She suggested and looked away.

"Alex?!" They heard an urgent whisper at the door and looked to the wood as though figuring out who that was.

"Tom?" Alex muttered and went to open the door. As soon as his hand was on the metal handle of the door, Hera put hers there too and squeezed his hand so hard it hurt. Alex gasped and removed his hand from the door when she let go; he cradled his hand in the other, looking at her as though she'd lost her mind. "What the fuck was that?" He snarled as quietly as he could and Hera jabbed him on the shoulder with two fingers and he grabbed his shoulder as pain seared through him. He'd forgotten she would do this; simply cause him pain to stop him doing something. When they were sixteen, Alex had found their sadistic affection cute, now it was just incredibly painful, especially after she'd trained for three more years.

"What are you thinking?" Hera snapped back; "open the door and he'll find the two of us in this cosy little bathroom." Alex thought about it before he put his hand back to the door.

"He's my friend- don't hurt me!" He added quickly as she went to hit him again. Hera cleared her throat, reached down for her cardigan and put it back on, before she put her fingers to her lips and smiled sweetly at him.

"Sweetheart," she said with false kindness, "open the door and I'll kick your ass." Alex adopted a similar tone.

"Darling, you know you couldn't take me." He twisted the door handle and Hera put her hand there to stop him.

"No!" She said firmly and pulled his hand to twist the handle back.

"Yes!" Alex retorted and twisted the handle again. He saw some conflict happen in Hera's eyes before she let go of his hand.

"Fine," she finally gave her consent, "but let me handle this." Alex thought about it before nodding and opening the door, Tom practically fell into the bathroom with them. In an instant, no one was sure how fast; Hera had hoisted herself onto the bathroom counter, next to the sink and wrapped her legs around Tom's waist and her arms around his neck. "Hello, Tom," she whispered to his ear and Alex watched with a mixture of horror and amusement; he was horrified because she was treating his friend like an enemy and amused because he'd forgotten how violently efficient she could be. As Alex stood opposite Tom, he suddenly realised Hera was cutting off his air supply.

"Hera, no!" Alex pulled her arms away from Tom's neck and she unwrapped her legs from him.

"What's the problem?" Hera asked as Tom massaged his neck and looked to her with a shocked expression.

"You're an agent?" Tom choked and Hera looked like she was going to hit him.

"No," Alex said slowly and took a protective step between the two. He cocked his head back to Hera who was breathing deeply, slumped against the bathroom mirror. "Hera, that's not exactly how I thought you'd "handle" things." Alex said to her and nodded to Tom. "He knows everything about me; he can be trusted." Hera still did not look convinced but slowly her look of concern turned to one of realisation.

"He knows everything about you?" She asked and Alex nodded. "He clearly didn't know about me." She said plainly and Alex stumbled over his words. "Three years," Hera spoke over him, " _three years,_ we worked together and you never mentioned me once?" Alex thought about it.

"I tried-"

"That is so typical of you." She snarled and Alex turned to her.

"Typical?" He repeated and did not even realise he'd pushed her legs apart and moved between them to get close to her face as she sat on the bathroom counter.

"Yes,  _typical,_ for the formidable Alex Rider, not to mention the fact that he gets saved by a girl on a regular basis." Hera replied, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible. Alex gasped in offence.

"I saved you more times than you saved me; you were the one always getting caught-"

"Maybe I wouldn't have got caught if  _someone_ understood what is actually meant by  _evasive espionage-"_

"Erm, guys?" Tom squeaked from the corner and the two turned to him with blushing faces; they were two spies who were renowned for never losing their tempers. "Can someone explain what's going on?" He asked and Hera's face softened as she saw he was quite frightened.

"A terrorist group is after Alex, I'm the agent guarding him." Hera explained and Alex rolled his eyes as she put on that adorable smile that made everyone melt. It's what Hera was known for; being beautiful and seductive and kind but having the ability to kill you in the blink of an eye.

"And you used to work together?" Tom asked, looking between the two. They nodded in unison. "Did you guys ever...?" He didn't need to finish the sentence.

"No."

"God, no." They said at the same time and avoided each other's eye. They looked up to Tom who suddenly felt uneasy as those blue eyes looked straight through him. He nodded and looked as though he had worked everything out. There was just one more thing.

"And we are in a bathroom because?" Hera removed the cardigan and showed him her scratches.

"I had to take care of someone." She explained and slid her cardigan back over her shoulders. Tom looked her up and down and found it strange that although Hera had killed someone, had committed such an evil act, it just made her more attractive, more dangerous. She bit her bottom lip and looked to him sharply.

"I won't tell anyone." He responded to her look and she smiled at him.

"Good." She whispered back and Alex, who had apparently been forgotten, looked from Hera to Tom and back again with a sinking feeling; he knew that look from Tom, the boy was already infatuated. And Hera, who was naive to the ways of teenage boys' hearts, had no idea what she was doing to Alex's best friend.

"OK." Alex said as loudly as he dared. "Let's get out of this bathroom." He said and Hera nodded. It amazed Tom how they worked together; in two minutes they had agreed how to get out without looking suspicious and some of it had not even involved talking. Hera left first to clear the hallway and a little while later, the boys returned to the party. For the next few hours the three of them acted as though nothing had happened. Many people asked Hera why she was gone for such a long time and at one point someone asked her about her necklace. It was a woman who was around ten years older than Hera, with a posh suit and painted nails that reminded Hera of a villainess she had once known.

"Who gave you that pretty little necklace?" The blonde woman asked and Hera thought for a moment before tilting her head to the side slightly.

"You can tell it was a gift?" She asked in return and the woman laughed.

"My dear, when someone is as lovely as you, I'd guess most of your possessions are gifts?" The woman enquired and could tell by the way Hera faltered that she was right. Hera looked away and caught Alex's eyes. He was talking to another man but she could tell he was listening. "So, who was it?" Alex unlocked his eyes from hers.

"First love." Hera replied. The rest of the party passed with no other incident.

* * *

 

"This is clearly an amateur group," Blunt muttered to himself as he looked over the papers Mrs Jones had given him. A few weeks ago, before Hera had returned to England, Jones had sent out seven spies to infiltrate the remaining three terrorist groups, after the death of Scorpia, and they had sent back everything they had learnt so far. Mrs Jones sat down opposite Blunt and reached across the desk. She picked up the files there and read aloud her own summary.

"Three months ago, there was been a period in the history of Scorpia which all gangs and organisations have named  _The Metamorphosis_." She said and her eyes skimmed the page again. "It seems that following the death of each member of Scorpia, other individuals, not in our databases, moved in and attained power over Scorpia's resources, their money, their influence-"

"So a new bunch of psychopaths have rebuilt Scorpia." Blunt murmured and Mrs Jones shook her head.

"Not exactly," she paused. "Scorpia's usual dealings dealt with the psychopaths; they simply took orders and never had any ideas themselves. It seems this new group is forming plans of their own; agent Reeves has acquired some information about what he believes is a virus-" she rustled through the papers and removed a sheet of red paper. She handed it to Blunt who did not look too concerned; it was simply a rumour of a virus, nothing to be worried about just yet.

"We must find out everything about this new set of criminals." He said and Jones nodded before scribbling down notes on a piece of paper. "I want to know who is in this group," Blunt said quickly and stood up to stare out of the window, "I want to know where their base is, I want to know where they get their money from, I want..." he paused and Mrs Jones poised her pen above the paper. She looked up when he said nothing. He turned back to her and adjusted his jacket. "Do they still call themselves Scorpia?" He asked and Mrs Jones almost smiled; Blunt was very sharp. She shook her head.

" _Swallowtail._ " She read from the papers, "is what they have renamed Scorpia." Blunt raised an eyebrow.

"Not very intimidating." He replied and Mrs Jones stood up to leave. As Mrs Jones approached the door she looked back to him and nodded in agreement.

"It's the name of a family of butterflies." She said nonchalantly. Mrs Jones left.

* * *

 

Alex and Sabina were walking under the stars that showered over London, as they approached Ian Rider's house once more. Before they walked into the house they stood in the driveway and waved to Tom as he approached his car across the street. Sabina leant against Alex's shoulder and he looked down to her.

"How was it?" He asked and she giggled.

"Absolutely thrilling." She replied and his smile broadened. "At least they've stopped asking me who I am and have moved on to Hera." She muttered and Alex nodded. "Poor thing," Sabina commented as they both watched Hera emerge from Mrs Rum's house, still being interrogated by the women there. Sabina noticed Alex's stony silence as Hera walked down the steps and approached Tom who stood by his car, waiting for her. "Does Tom...like her?" Sabina asked, aware of the awkward way Tom ran a hand through his hair. She looked up to Alex who sighed. Alex may be concerned but it seemed to elevate some of the tension between Sabina and Alex; perhaps Hera would be too distracted to pursue Alex. Even though Sabina knew Hera had said she would not take Alex away from her, it did not stop Sabina feeling intimidated.

By Tom's car, Hera stopped as she saw him stood, waiting for her to come down the steps. She was stood at Mrs Rum's door and smiled in a bashful way, a way in which she had not smiled in a long time. She lowered her gaze and walked down the steps. She didn't quite know what to think of him; he was attractive. But not in the same way Alex was, not in that dashing, charismatic way, she was used to. But he was gentle and kind, something Hera had forgotten human beings were capable of.

"That's a very short dress." Tom muttered, breaking Hera's train of thought. She looked to him and raised an eyebrow; it seemed a strange thing to point out. She looked down to her dress.

"I just have very long legs." She replied and walked past him.

"I wasn't complaining." Hera stopped as he said this and turned to him slowly.

"I'm sorry," she said and took a step towards him, "are you attempting to flirt with me?" She asked for she could not remember the last time someone had talked to her like that.

"Yes." He admitted, "how's it working out?"

"Badly." She replied with a giggle. Tom laughed and she could see colour rise in his pale cheeks.

"Well maybe you should come out with me some time and I could try again?" He suggested slyly and Hera was impressed that he was still trying.

"Not while I'm working." She replied sternly and when she saw his face fall she sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to," she said quickly, "but I can't." She walked towards him and kissed him quickly on the cheek. Tom felt a strange rush of electricity run through him as she did this and when she drew away from him he acted on impulse and grabbed her shoulders, pulled Hera into embrace and kissed her.

* * *

**Kudos and comments appreciated!**


	10. Five Minutes Past the Hour

Hera took a step back and smiled, almost in disbelief, at Tom who seemed to be experiencing the same surprise. Beneath the stars they stood by his car, he looked eagerly to her, waiting for her response. There was a strange look on the girl's face that Tom wasn't used to, one of bemusement and confusion. It was a truthful analysis; Hera had not let someone make her feel this way in such a long time. It was exhilarating when she felt him push back against her lips and she continued to stare at him as though she had never seen him before.

"Are you going to say some-" But Tom was cut off as Hera shook her head and leant in to kiss him again. The force took Tom by surprise as he ran a hand through her long hair and welcomed her into embrace again. After a few moments of the thrill of being held by someone, the pair broke apart for a second time and Tom's nerves left him as he saw a smile on Hera's face.

"Um," Hera said, slightly breathlessly as she thought of what to say, "do you, er…would you like to come inside for a drink?" Tom brushed a flyaway strand of hair away from her cheek, tilted her chin towards him and kissed her lightly.

"I'd like that," he whispered.

On the other side of the street, outside Ian Rider's house, another couple stood, looking confused and impressed. Sabina gasped and with a smile put her hand to her mouth.

"I never knew Tom had it in him," she said in a muffled tone through her hand. She looked up to Alex and her smile faded as she saw he was stood, stock-still, staring into the distance. She looked away from his face as his hands curled to fists and she swallowed hard as a stinging feeling in her throat began to arise. Sabina looked across the road and saw Tom and Hera enter Hera's house with smiles. "Shall we go inside?" Sabina whispered and Alex jumped, he had forgotten she was there. In a single moment, her worries disappeared as Alex looked down to her, his eyes softened and he smiled.

"Yes, beautiful." He said and kissed her on the forehead before putting his arm around her. They walked inside.

"So you don't know any of these people?" Tom asked as he bent down to look at a picture of Hera, somewhere in Italy, with her "parents." She shook her head as she emerged from the kitchen and handed him a glass.

"Not a clue." She replied with a smile and Tom let out an airy laugh. He looked around the living room and saw everything was much like Hera, beautiful, fragile, delicate, complicated. Way too complicated. But she still had that air of seduction, which intrigued him to the edge of insanity. Hera watched as Tom walked around her living room, marvelling at how well done this house was; they had pictures, whole photo albums, including pictures from when Hera was a child. The girl took a seat and tilted her head, admiring the way he ran a hand through his blonde hair…no, black hair. Hera shook her head, Tom had black hair. He turned back to her and she forced a smile.

"How long are you posted here?" Tom asked and she smiled as he sat next to her.

"As long as I need to be here." She said and Tom took her glass from her, placed it on the table in front of them and leant towards her with a confidence that made Hera smile. She did have an awesome smile, one that made him smile too as she innocently let her eyes fall to the floor and work their way back up to his own. As Tom came closer Hera noticed something; when Alex was this close she felt so much more…alive. Like they would tease each other, trying to get the other to break first; there was that feeling of intense heat that came between them but not with Tom. She tilted her head and bit her lip as she looked at his handsome face; she deserved a bit of fun. Heck, she deserved some decent,  _truthful_  human contact.

"I love the way you bite your lip," Tom whispered as he moved in closer and watched as Hera looked up innocently at him while digging her teeth into her soft, full lips. As she smiled, Tom tore his eyes away from her mouth and looked into her eyes. They narrowed on him and in an instant she had pushed him back, onto the floor and was on her knees beside him. Hera held her head up high as she looked down at Tom who was getting over the shock of being dominated within a second. With a wicked smile, Hera felt alive again.

* * *

_2.05 AM- Ian Rider's house-_

Alex's eyes snapped open. Like clockwork, his body began to wake up while his mind begged it not to. Slowly, for he did not want to wake Sabina, he reached over to his bedside table and put his lamp on a dim setting. The room was cast into semi-darkness and looking around Alex could make out the clothes that lay strewn on the floor as he and Sabina had gotten into bed in quite a hurry. With a small smile, he turned to his girlfriend, who had her back to him, and kissed her shoulder lightly. She stirred and without opening her eyes and reached out her hand behind her to run her fingers through Alex's hair.

Sabina never usually woke up with him when he couldn't sleep, he didn't mind; this was the one time, every day, that he had to think about Hera. Hera was the reason he couldn't sleep, she haunted his dreams and held onto a part of him with a vice-like grip. He couldn't shake her. He couldn't stop thinking about the girl he left behind.

Brushing his blonde hair away from his eyes, he sat up and flung his legs over the side of the bed. He grabbed some boxers from a drawer and put them on, stumbling slightly because he was still tired, before he picked up his favourite jumper and walked out of his bedroom.

While making his way to the kitchen, Alex smelt his jumper instinctively. Only a few years ago, when Hera came to stay with him, she would wear this jumper and eventually her scent had left it. Looking about the hallway, Alex could see that every trace of her was gone; her shoes in the landing, her tea cups left in stupid, imaginative places for Alex to step on, and her presence had gone. The house only ever seemed too big for Alex, but when she was there, she filled it with her own world. The house had been empty for years.

In the kitchen, Alex flicked on the lights and blinked to compensate the sudden flood of light into his sleepy eyes. Walking over to the sink to get a glass of water, Alex noticed something unusual about his street; there was another light on. In this leafy part of Chelsea, where everyone was a mum or dad or child, lights were all out past midnight. But here there was, a single shining light calling out to Alex from the darkness of the street, and he only needed one guess to decide who had turned it on. The ex-spy looked closer at could just make out her shape, sat on the window sill of her living room, a glass of water in her hand. She looked like she was wrapped up in a thin sheet and it made Alex's heart skip a beat.

Gulping down his water, Alex had an immediate, insane, irresponsible idea. It seemed the perfect time, for a walk.

* * *

_2.07 AM- Hera St Claire's House_

Running her hand through her chocolate brown hair, Hera gripped her blanket to her body and stifled a yawn. In her kitchen she stood by the sink, drink in hand, wondering what was going to happen next. Her thoughts were cut off as she realised how warm she was; it was the middle of the British Summertime and the night was thick with heat and humidity. Slowly, she lowered her glass and walked out of the kitchen, to her study.

Hera's study was located on the ground floor of the house, she liked it best because it had three huge windows that let in a lot of sunlight and she found it easier to work in this room. At the moment the sun was lighting up the other side of the world and Hera stepped into moonlight as she walked across her study to open one of the windows. The young spy inhaled the night time air with deep satisfaction and then proceeded to sit on the window sill.

All was quiet about the street; nothing stirred, she was probably the only person awake at this time. Hera leant her head back to rest against the window pane and sighed as she looked up to the ceiling. This room was directly beneath her bedroom, directly beneath the place where Tom was sleeping now.

What had she been thinking? What had come over her? Had she just made the biggest mistake possible? She felt something fall in her stomach, a notch of guilt nestled itself in her navel and she shook her head to try and rid herself of the feeling. She shouldn't have spent the night with Tom, now it seemed so petty and foolish, like she had done it to get back at Alex. It was such an embarrassing thought that she pulled the bed sheet over her face and grimaced.

As she felt the breeze around her and felt comforted, like the wind had brought common sense along with it. Of course she hadn't done it to get back at Alex; they lead completely separate lives now. A wry smile came across her face and she took a sip of her water; Hera had finally enjoyed herself on this boring street! All the attempts to murder Alex Rider had been so futile she laughed every time. So what if it had been Alex's best friend? Hera sighed; regardless of how she rationalised it to herself, one thing was certain- she had complicated things and that wasn't good.

Looking across to Alex's house she let her thoughts wander over to his life; did he still wake up?

"Hey-" Before Alex had time to utter another syllable, he was staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic.

"Jesus," Hera snarled, "you nearly gave me a heart attack." The spy retracted the weapon to see her old partner, wide-eyed and pale-faced, staring back at her.

"I gave  _you_ a heart attack?" Alex retaliated once he got over the shock of how fast she was.

"What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me in the middle of the night?" Hera placed her gun back into the hidden door in the wall next to her. Alex waited a while before responding, the surprise of the moment ebbed away and they appraised one another. Hera suddenly became aware that she was in nothing but a bed sheet. Without her consent her face began to heat up and she avoided his eye. They both looked out to the street beyond them; Hera sat on her windowsill and Alex leant on the wall beside her. "Still have trouble sleeping?" She whispered.

"Five past two, every night, like clockwork." Alex whispered back. Silence crept back to them and the two teenagers breathed heavily; how were they supposed to act towards each other? They had no idea how they felt because they didn't know what it meant to be honest with themselves; let alone another person. Years ago, on missions, outside of missions, they would sit in silence and not think twice about it. Now, however, with what seemed like miles and miles of distance between them, filling up with the things they couldn't say to each other, they were finally uncomfortable with silence. "You think it will ever stop?" Alex asked suddenly and Hera snapped her attention over to her. She looked pensive for a moment.

"No." The girl said confidently. "I don't think it will ever stop." She smiled at him and Alex couldn't help but let himself smile too. "Would you like a drink or something?"

"No, thanks, Hera." They didn't break eye contact. They both knew that there was something safe, something comforting about being around each other. "That was a close call, earlier…in the bathroom." Alex laughed lightly.

"I've had worse-"

"Oh, I believe you." She rolled her eyes at his jibes and took another sip of water. "I asked you to stay away from him." Alex said plainly.

"Alex.." Hera put her hand to her forehead and screwed up her face, irritated by the comment. "Just…fuck off, please." She rubbed her forehead before opening her eyes and looking over at him. He wasn't smiling.

"Alright, alright. You know where I stand-"

"I'm too tired for this." Hera said and stood up on the windowsill. She looked like she was going to go back inside but changed her mind and turned to him. "The second you left me behind at the Royal and General was the second you stopped being able to have any say in anything I do-"

"He's my friend and you are-"

"Oh here we go," Hera rolled her eyes and jumped onto the ground before her, "another, awe-inspiring lecture from the great Alex Rider!" Hera narrowed her eyes and Alex shook his head.

"I don't believe you.." He muttered.

"Oh please, Alex, tell me, because I'm dying to know what adjectives you're going to use to describe how I don't care about anyone but myself," she snapped, "how I got too immersed in a job that I got entirely because of YOU!" Alex stepped forwards with equal determination and anger.

"You could've said no!" He shouted as loud as he dared. "You could've repented!"

"REPENTED!" She spat at him in disgust. Hera opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it and took a deep breath. "I am too tired for your juvenile,  _petty-_ " Hera stopped speaking suddenly. There was a sound like the snap of a twig, behind her. She turned in an instant and Alex turned away from her to scan the other side of the garden. "You armed?" Hera asked quietly.

"No." Alex whispered in an indignant voice over his shoulder. "For some reason I don't expect to be attacked in a back garden in Chelsea." Hera rolled her eyes.

"Get inside, I'll take care of this."

"Yeah, you certainly looked dressed for combat." Hera looked down at her bed sheet before biting her lip.

"Go inside!" She demanded.

"I'm not leaving you." Alex insisted.

"Go inside or I'll kill you myself!"

"For once, woman, will you just…" Alex's voice trailed away, out of the shadows under a hedge, slinked a very unfriendly, not-so-dangerous, house cat. The two of them sighed. "I am getting way too old for this." He laughed.

"Yes, you are." Hera said and without another word she slammed her shoulder into him and he almost smashed into the window sill. Alex knew her too well to think she was just teasing him; he knew something was still up and cursed before following her lead and scrambling in through the open window. Hera followed, holding onto the thin sheet that was wrapped around her. She turned to the window and slammed it shut. "There appears to be someone on your roof."


	11. Mr Goodchild

"Get upstairs," Hera snapped as she ran past him and turned off the light in the hallway. After having worked together for three years, Alex knew her every movement, her slight sighs and gentle giveaways, so he waited for her to look over her shoulder and nod to him.

After checking that the hallway was clear, and looking across the hall to see that none of her security alarms had gone off, the girl in the thin linen dress turned her head to face her ex-partner and nodded.

Alex ran ahead of Hera and took the stairs two at a time. As he made his way up the cream, spiral staircase, he glanced, in glass frames, pictures of Hera as a child. A picture of her and her mother in bathing suits, Hera had grown up to look like her…tall and slim, with those shocking eyes and chocolate hair. The only difference was Hera's skin colour. Bright blue eyes flashed past him and the old spy felt disgusted with himself that he was getting out of breath. He approached a landing and jumped out of the way in time for Hera to sprint past.

"Third door on the right." Hera pointed down a dimly lit corridor and Alex followed her directions. He glanced back to see her pull a painting away from the wall, like a door, to reveal a safe. She must have had weapons planted throughout the entire house and, holding her sheet to her body, she typed in the code to the safe which swung open to reveal her weapons rack. Alex looked away, he found it a strange sight; she looked so delicate and elegant in her white bed sheet and mess of chocolate hair, seeing her with a blade in her hands seem to ruin the picture.

The boy with the blonde hair sneaked through the hallway seemingly unnoticed; checking every room as he went. Eventually he came across the third door and peered around the corner.

"Jesus," he whispered and lightly hit the back of his head against the door frame as the feeling of utter awkwardness rose up inside him. His best friend was sitting in his jeans and shirt, on the edge of what must've been Hera's bed, his back towards Alex. Alex braced himself for the most uncomfortable conversation he would probably ever have to endure and with a deep breath he-

"Third door on the  _right."_ Hera said loudly as she walked up to Alex and shut the door in his face. Alex caught the quick flash of Tom turning to the door before he was blocked from view. The spy put her back against the door and stared up at him defiantly.

"Sorry." Alex said after a moment and turned to the door opposite them. Hera took a breath and closed her eyes in frustration. "This one?"

"Yes." She said even louder and grabbed the door handle or her bedroom to stop Tom from coming out and making this more embarrassing than it needed to be. Alex turned the door handle and walked in before looking back at her. The two stood in stony silence and looked directly into each other's eyes. There were so many strange feelings floating through the air between them. "This isn't the time." Hera spoke suddenly and for a moment Alex was going to argue. They knew they needed to talk, they needed to know where they stood in each other's lives. He thought again and agreed to take a rain check with a small nod. The emotions of embarrassment, lust, frustration and nostalgia were too intense, too much for this moment- right now they needed space from each other, they needed time to think. "Shut the door." Hera said, they had not broken eye contact. Alex tried not to think too hard as he pushed the door so it swung shut.

Hera tilted her head back against the cold, hard wood of the cream coloured door- she didn't have time for this. Turning the crystal doorknob, eyes fixated on the place she last saw Alex, she let herself back into her bedroom.

"Hey," Tom jumped up from the bed as he heard her enter. Hera ran a hand through her chocolate hair and walked over to her cupboard, accidentally ignoring him. Tom stood still, an air of unease filled the room as Hera grabbed what appeared to be a black corset from her wardrobe, turned to the bed and let her bed sheet fall to the floor. She began to dress with lightning speed and Tom watched in utter bewilderment as she put on her undergarments and then reached into a draw for a black dress and a gun. "Hera?" Tom said, hoping he hadn't somehow invited his own murder. Hera tied up her hair roughly and walked over to him. She threw the gun on the bed and flung her arms around his neck before kissing him. Tom wasn't sure what was going on but he knew that a kiss from Hera couldn't be a bad thing. He ran his hands down her sides and felt the fabric of her corset beneath the dress. Hera pulled away from him quickly.

"Someone is on Alex's roof; I have to take care of it." She fluttered her eyelashes up at him and smiled. "I'll be back before you know it." Hera winked and Tom was completely lost for words; for a trained killer, she sure dressed well for work. With another quick peck on the lips, Hera removed herself from his embrace and made her way out of the room.

"What's with the corset?" Tom asked suddenly and Hera smiled.

"It's bulletproof," she said at the door and reached into the drawer of her bedside table to retrieve a knife and strap it to her thigh. "I designed it, do you like it?" She asked innocently. Tom frowned.

"I think I need a second look to form a solid opinion." He said smoothly. With a wicked smile, Hera walked from the room, grabbed a pair of plimsolls from her shoe cupboard and ran out of the house. Tom left the room after her, hoping to get a glimpse of her hair flowing behind her as she ran. Unfortunately he bumped into someone else.

"Alex?" In the hallway, Tom found Alex peering down the stairs.

* * *

The climb to Alex's roof was tough; these London houses had windows so large Hera could barely get her footing right. Her arms were straining with her own weight as she was trying to pull her whole body past windows that were almost as tall as her. She cursed herself for becoming distracted with Tom and not preparing for this kind of encounter. It was stupid, utterly foolish, but lucky for Hera, she had busied herself with her anger than she didn't realise she had climbed the back wall of the house within a few minutes. Free running was one of Hera's favourite activities but she often preferred to be going down as opposed to up. Didn't matter; she was perched with her feet on tiptoe, on the highest window, her head ducked down below the roof, reading to strike. She had seen the figure up there when she had come out of her own house; waiting for her. She could barely make out a silhouette and was preparing for anyth-

"It's taken you seventeen minutes to get out here since you saw me." A soft, silky, pompous voice spoke above her and her eyes widened with surprise. "That's appalling." Hera looked up to see a man she had known for just over a year now. She gasped and reached up to take his outstretched hand. The elder man helped to pull her up onto the roof and smiled down at her as she almost fell into his arms. They held each other at arm's length. "Hi, baby." He said kindly, leaving Hera speechless. The man was six years older, with dark shaggy hair and an equally dark eyes, he appraised her with nothing but affection. His name was Daniel Goodchild. He was the newly appointed leader of Swallowtail.

"What…what are you doing here?" The girl said with a wry smile.

"I came to see you; I heard what happened with Molotov." He replied with a stern look. Hera shook her head in disbelief; she couldn't comprehend why this young millionaire would fly out to see her because she had received a few small scratches.

Hera was not blind to the fact that Daniel was completely infatuated with her. She never returned his affection, she belonged entirely to the world of her old partner, but it did not stop him. Daniel embraced her and marvelled at how tired he was after coming straight off a plane to see her, knowing that their conversation would end up being about Rider. It was a small price to pay; as he held her the smell of sweetly perfumed hair rose up to him, he knew this was as close to her as he'd ever get, so he may as well make the most of it.

A few days ago, in Blunt's office in MI6 headquarters, Hera had told him that she had refused to kill Alex Rider. What she had not mentioned was that she was the one who suggested capturing him instead.

* * *

_-One year ago, Rome-_

Hera walked with silent determination down the corridor of Parco Deri Principi, a hotel in the heart of Rome. As she walked down the warm, mirrored corridor, beneath the golden arches and in the dim candlelight, she began to remove the maid outfit she had stolen from a woman she had met two days ago. The woman was now unconscious in her apartment a few streets away. She'd be that way for a while.

The scent of oranges and coconuts filled Hera's head as she continued to walk swiftly, removing her white gloves, apron and then her dress. It slipped to the floor as she walked to reveal a black t-shirt and shorts she had on underneath. She didn't care very much about being conspicuous- everyone was downstairs at the party. It was the perfect opportunity to sneak up on Mr Goodchild before he went downstairs, and slit his throat. As she thought about her task she instinctively felt her right thigh to check her blade was still on her.

The mission had gone smoothly so far, no hiccups. Well, there was the incident in the town square with the tourists at the Coliseum, to which Blunt had phoned personally to tell her off. The thought just made her smile; she liked annoying him, it was a good way of reminding him she was not completely under his control. Besides, she was growing tired of...Hera stopped walking and looked to her right. It was a portrait, it took up an entire wall and had an antique gold frame. It was a painting of Umberto II of Italy. He served as the last king of Italy in 1946. It wasn't the painting so much that made her stop, more what it made her remember. History. She liked history, she'd been good at it at school and Alex had always appreciated that part of her. He asked her to recount stories of wars from thousands of years ago. He fell asleep in her arms once, when he thought he was dying he asked her to talk about something...she couldn't remember what it was but she remembered looking down at him, telling him the tale and feeling him slip away into sleep. History. That's all he was.

The young spy shook herself out of it and continued her walk. Everywhere she went she became distracted, it was ridiculous. Before she knew it she had reached his room. Goodchild was in here somewhere. She was stood before a floor-to-ceiling, red velvet curtain. She grabbed her knife with her right hand and put her left hand on the curtain. Hera could feel the adrenaline running, burning through her veins, making her hungry for the intense excitement that would come-

"And what do we have here?" Hera froze with her left hand on the curtain, waiting to rip it back and reveal her victim. Her eyes widened with surprise but then softened; she had heard he was good but this was ridiculous. How could  _she_ be outsmarted by a criminal? Clearly she had misjudged something. She could sense the coldness radiate from the blade he held at the base of her neck but could still gather that he was tall, strong, and fast. Years of working in this field had allowed her to sum up her opponents without even looking at them.

"Mr Goodchild," Hera said smoothly in an almost office-voice and lowered her right hand which held her knife and let it dropped to the floor. As the metal clanged against the marble she cocked her head back in an arrogant manner, waiting for him to make the first move. She let her lips open and took in a sharp breath as he leant forwards and smelt her neck.

"Hello, Hera." He whispered to her. "Would you like some tea?" She bowed her head and smiled.

"I'd love some." His weapon dropped to the floor and she turned quickly to him. For a split second, in fact, it wasn't even a second, not even a heartbeat passed between them and Goodchild saw what it was that caught everyone off guard when it came to her. That silent, cold, beauty that she didn't even know about; she was deadly and stunning, it almost made him falter.  _Almost_. But he was Daniel Goodchild, nothing surprised him. Hera blinked twice at him and took in the dark chocolate eyes and brown, shaggy hair. He was what she thought people would refer to as "dashing," but she didn't see how the confident, handsome, skilful, millionaire, could be enticing. To him she was a body that was alive and one of those two things needed to change.

"After you," he gestured to the curtain and she nodded with a smile.

"Thank you." Hera entered the living room of his suite and walked to the window. She looked out onto the quiet, midnight streets of Rome and loosened her hair so it fell lose. She hated having her hair up.

"So," Daniel Goodchild began and Hera turned to him. He was stood next to one of the largest fireplaces Hera had ever seen, with tiles of deep red that were gold rimmed and a mahogany frame. He looked quite at home in his dinner suit, stood beneath the painted portrait of some old politician. "What are we going to do?" He asked quietly and walked to the little glass table that was between them. Goodchild loosened his bow tie and reached for the small tea pot on the table. There were two china cups; he knew she was coming. He sat down and indicated for her to do the same thing but she did not budge. He had heard Hera could be stubborn but he was only trying to be polite. It didn't matter; she was at his mercy now.

"I hear business with you is going well, Mr Goodchild." Hera said in a soft voice and took a seat opposite him. "Cream and sugar?" She asked him and reached for the small jug of cream. He nodded.

"Thank you." Goodchild ran a hand through his hair and smiled. "So good in fact that the British government want me dead?" It was Hera's turn to smile as he reached over and grabbed the sugar bowl, brushing her arm with his fingers as he did so.

"No." She surprised him with this answer. "The British government want you stopped.  _I_ want you dead. No sugar, thank you." Hera looked up at him and smiled sweetly, he returned it with equal sincerity. The reason the two were being so civil with each other was very, very simple. They were even. He could kill her, she could kill him. Rather than fight to the death the two decided discussing the matter over tea would be far more pleasurable for the both of them. They both sat back and eyed each other up. Assessing weaknesses and strengths of each other.

"Let's not fuck around Hera-"

"Fine by me-"

"Obviously, we need to come to some arrangement-"

"Obviously: my freedom for your dead body." Daniel laughed. He was genuinely amused by her statement; not many spies liked chitchats before death but she seemed to relish conversation. His laughter subsided and he looked to her once more.

"Work for me." Silence. Hera drained her tea in one un-ladylike go and threw the cup at him. Daniel moved his head but an inch and the china smashed into the back of the fireplace and fell to melting pieces in the flames.

"Good enough answer?" She spat at him and he nodded.

"You may leave." He gestured to the door. She stood and smiled briefly.

"Thank you for the tea, Mr Goodchild." Hera walked past the table and got to the door before he called out to her again:

"The mission I ask of you is one you have always wanted to carry out." With this simple statement Hera's mind was flooded with a million questions. It meant he knew a lot about her, about her past, her wants, her skills...it was a dangerous position to be in. She turned back to him and shut the huge oak door. "I want Scorpia dead." It was Hera's turn to laugh.

"Scorpia?" She asked in disbelief. "You want  _me_ to take  _everyone_ in Scorpia out?" Hera laughed again. "I'd have a better chance of taking them out for dinner than killing them." Silence.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you couldn't do it." He said plainly as her smiles stopped at once. Those diamond eyes found his dark ones and she sighed. "Look me in the eye," he stood up as he raised his voice, "and tell me that the raw hate you feel for them isn't enough?" He shouted at her and she looked away. "Look at me!" He screamed. "Tell me what your father did doesn't still burn at your insides, begging you to make everything right; to see every single one of those bastards with their throats slit?" His voice lowered, Hera looked to him and he took a deep breath. "Tell me you don't want bittersweet revenge?" He was satisfied when he saw her tongue dart out of her mouth and lick her lips.

"What are the terms?" And it was with that phrase that the two strangers became inseparable. The cold-hearted, harsh-tongued, older millionaire became an open, warm, kind, generous and almost loving human being. It was the first time Daniel Goodchild could remember being happy; when he was alone with Hera. She changed when with him to someone only Hera's old colleagues would remember; the polite, sweet, adorable, almost childlike teenager who was incredibly funny. He liked that best about her; she could make him smile so easily. And she was bloody intelligent. The two had a strange grief between them; Daniel's attraction to Hera was more than obvious and she was blatantly not interested in him in that way.

Slowly, over the next year, mission meeting plans in his office turned to calling her out to another country just to have tea. She would phone him at ridiculous hours of the night simply to tell him she found a nice top in Harrods that day. They became completely comfortable with each other. She never slept with him, Hera couldn't do that; she belonged to someone else. It pissed him off because it was weirdly attractive to have someone so deadly, so attractive, so untouched, but not be able to have them completely. But along with the attraction came affection and genuine care; if she did not want him they he was fine to stand by her and protect her.

* * *

_-6 months later-_

_Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean_

"You love him?"

"No."

"Liar."

"Fuck off."

"Don't tell me to fuck off-" Daniel threw a pillow over to the other bed and Hera flattened herself on her blankets so the pillow flew over her. They both lay down and stared at the chandelier on the ceiling, the chandelier's crystals swung to and fro from the movement of the boat. They had turned the lights off and had one lamp on Hera's side of the room, on. The dim light cascaded around the room and illuminated the spy and criminal's belongings. They had walked into the room, threw their suitcases on the floor and Daniel began to teach Hera the art of using a Katana. The samuri sword he had brought her had a wide blade, double grooved, mahogany sheath and gold plated handle. It was beautiful, like her, deadly, like her and it hurt him, like her. They had an intense lesson which involved the destruction of their room before they both collapsed onto their beds.

"Oi, beautiful?" Daniel called to her and she opened her eyes and looked across to him. "Come here," he beckoned her with a nod and sat up, "bring your sword." Hera stood wearily and swung her sword to show off as she walked to his bed. He liked her white dress that hung loosely about her frame and that way in which she smiled so happily and proudly when she waved her sword at him. She sat down on the bed next to him and Goodchild reached over for her blade. "Lay down." He instructed her and she knew to listen to her teacher so lay by his side. They both stared up to the sword. Daniel tilted the blade and run a finger down the middle. "I had it engraved." Her blue eyes narrowed on the blade.

"Revenge is sweeter than flowing honey." She whispered and averted her eyes from the weapon. "It's very true." Daniel put the sword on the floor and lay on his side so he was looking down to her. After minutes of just staring at her and pushing her hair away from her face and looking into his deep brown eyes. Daniel sighed and spoke again:

"I love you."

"I love you too." She replied. They meant it in different ways completely. Together they made up a powerful and ruthless team, their one weakness was this strange feeling of protection they had for each other. "I got my mark last week!" Hera suddenly remembered and seeing her smile made him laugh.

"Really? Let's see then." She turned away from him and pulled the sleeve of her dress down to reveal her left shoulder. The small swallowtail butterfly, black and fragile looking, was burnt into her skin. "You're one of us now." Hey didn't speak for a while, just lay there while Daniel outlined the butterfly with his finger. "You know what this means?" Hera turned to face him again and her brow furrowed. "It means it's time." The planning of the future death of Scorpia began.

* * *

**Enjoying the story? Give me some kudos/comments to let me know! :)**


	12. Holsters and Funfairs

Alex Rider's roof was unusually busy for three o'clock in the morning. The occupants of the rooftop were also unusually power figures for the types that lurked in darkened parts of Chelsea. One was a teenage assassin, stood in a black dress, placing a semi-automatic back into its holster on her thigh. The other was a young, self-made millionaire, who showed his face regularly to TV cameras and paparazzi, usually as he was disappearing into a London bar with an up-and-coming model draped on his arm.

The pair made up a quarter of the most powerful terrorist organisation in the world; Swallowtail. He being the leading financier and unofficial president of the group and she being the only assassin and member with orthodox espionage training.

Hera St. Claire and Daniel Goodchild had been bemused by each other ever since their first encounter and, it was unknown to the other members of Swallowtail, cared very deeply for one another. They stood with a meter distance between them and appraised each other.

"What did he do?" Goodchild asked and when Hera looked uncomprehending he continued; "Molotov?" She seemed to remember what he was talking about and shook her head.

"Nothing." Hera put her hands on her hips; Goodchild knew she hated to be mollycoddled by him.

"He came back to Italy with blood on his blades." He was not letting Hera get away from him so easily.

"Molotov gave me a few scratches; it was just a bit of fun!" Daniel could feel Hera getting irritated now. When Hera snapped her blue eyes up to him, she could see he was not going to let it die. A few nights ago, at Mrs Rum's party, Hera had spotted an assassin, but she did not mention to Alex that they knew each other. His name was Igor Molotov, as in a Molotov cocktail, he was Head of Weapons and Aircraft, in Swallowtail. He and Hera often voiced their wonders about who would win in a fight and occasionally tested each other. Only this time it had left Hera with a nasty cut on her shoulder and she had lost a shuriken somewhere in Molotov's ribcage.

Hera had remained quiet for a minute now and the reason dawned on Goodchild.

"Oh God," he muttered before raising his voice. "Another stupid faux duel?" He asked exasperatedly.

"Shhh," Hera said putting a finger to her lips. Daniel Goodchild swore quietly.

"I should have the two of you barred from ever being in the same room. Honestly, Hera, what am I going to do with you?" Goodchild ran a hand wearily through his hair and looked over to Hera who was now wearing a large grin.

"It's the most fun I have around here-"

"Harris would disagree." The smile was wiped off Hera's face.

"What?" She asked slowly.

"You know; that guy you fucked." Hera winced as though Goodchild had hit her harder than Molotov. Daniel adjusted the cuff of his shirt. "I assume you remember why you're here in the first place." Hera smirked.

"Daniel," she said in a soft, velvet voice as she took a step towards him and placed a hand gently on his chest, "you really think I'd forget?" Daniel took Hera by surprise; he put a hand on her right hip, slid it around her waist and pulled her in close. Hera fluttered her eyelashes up at him in a sultry manner as Daniel ran his other hand up her left leg and corrected the holster on her thigh.

"There are a few signs that would lead me to say yes." He answered and let her go. "They're at the front door." Daniel said and Hera nodded.

"I'll catch you later, baby." She said with a wink and Daniel took a deep breath. Many men, including him, would give anything to spend a little longer with her, but she went chasing either men who thought she was a murderer or insignificant nobodies. Even if Daniel bought her the Akbar Shah diamond, Hera would never look at him that way. Although he was beginning to think he was wearing her down.

"Love you," he whispered back to her and Hera looked over her shoulder to him.

"Love you too."

* * *

Sabina was stood in front of a sink in the third floor utility room. Tom and Alex had turned up around three minutes ago and Alex said that Hera would be along any second now. The boys had decided to hang around on the third floor and Sabina excused herself to get a glass of water but the truth was she couldn't get what Hera had said out of her head.  _Leave when Alex asks you_. Would Alex ever ask her to leave? How close would Hera and Alex become? Sabina bit her nails with a glass of water in her other hand and turned as she heard a tapping sound from behind her. She almost dropped her glass; Hera was stood outside the window…they were on the third floor.

"Oh!" It took Sabina a second to realise she should let Hera in. Placing the glass on the counter behind her, she moved forwards and opened the window. The young spy slid into the room.

"Hey," Hera said with a small smile whilst adjusting her dress, she looked up to Sabina who was stood in a tank top and shorts. "Sorry, did I get you out of bed?" With a shake of her head, Sabina tried to smile; she found it strange that Hera was suddenly very comfortable after all-

"You slept with Tom." The words were out of Sabina's mouth before she could stop herself. The statement was followed by the most uncomfortable silence Sabina had ever experienced; Hera raised an eyebrow and stood up to her full height. "Sorry," Sabina suddenly realised she was talking to an assassin. "It's just that-"

"Tom's not the type?" Hera asked and Sabina sighed a little in relief.

"Yeah," she said, slowly coming to ease as she felt Hera was not offended. "It's just that…Tom's so.." Hera simply stared at Sabina, wondering what on earth she was trying to get at. "…Un-exotic." She spat out.

"Did you think I just got with millionaires and spies?" Hera smiled as Sabina debated what to say.

"Well, yes." Hera laughed.

"Sorry to disappoint." Sabina laughed as well and felt a little strange; she had not seen a side to Hera that she liked until now. Perhaps it was just that Hera was certainly not after Alex, or that the girl was not some jet-setting, paradisiacal, seductive assassin…she was a normal nineteen year old. Hera winked at her. "Tea?" She asked and Sabina nodded.

"Good idea." For the first time in a few days, a genuine smile was etched on Sabina's face. She could almost feel a friendship forming. Hera and Sabina walked out of the utility room and bumped into the boys in the landing. It was obvious that Alex had realised that Sabina had been away for too long and had indeed met Hera. He was surprised to see Hera and Sabina smiling at them. "Hey guys," Sabina said to break the ice as Hera walked over to Tom who embraced her and kissed her cheek. No one said anymore for nothing needed to be said; it was the middle the night before a Wednesday morning and they were exhausted, a cup of tea and a good conversation sounded good to all of them.

As they walked down the stairs in silence, Alex and Sabina behind Hera and Tom, Alex couldn't help but notice how at ease he felt. For the first time in years, he felt his age. Sure it was strange that it was is ex-partner who he was in love with at some point and had no idea how he felt about her, his girlfriend and his best friend who was currently sleeping with his ex-partner…but he finally had a group of friends. After years, he finally had a few friends round to his house. Something teenagers took for granted was something he had craved for years and, in its strange, crazy way, he'd got it.

The group walked into the kitchen, Tom took a seat at the breakfast table, joined by Hera who lifted herself up onto the table to inspect the cut on her knee. Alex and Sabina began to make tea for the four of them. As Sabina put water in the kettle, Alex walked past her to grab some mugs on the drying rack by the sink, as he did he kissed the side of her head and Sabina couldn't help but smile. Things felt nice, things felt easy, she felt safe.

"Hold the tea for me, Sabina." She turned as she heard Hera speak to her. The spy was sat on top of Alex's breakfast bar and as much as Sabina tried, she couldn't stop the small stab of jealously in her stomach as Alex leant over to inspect Hera's knee as well. "Can I use your shower?" She asked Alex who let out an airy laugh.

"Yeah, go for it," he shrugged.

"My room still free?" Hera asked as she jumped off the kitchen table. Sabina looked over to Alex with a raised eyebrow but he was not looking at her.

"Yeah," Alex answered and stood up straight, trying to think. "Shampoo is in the cupboard; there's none out."

"Cool." She responded and as Hera passed Tom she whispered something in his ear, making him smile. Hera left the room.

"You two certainly wasted no time." Sabina commented and placed his tea in front of Tom.

"Oh," Tom blushed slightly, "yeah. Hera's quite…forward." Sabina kept her eyes on Alex, wanting to see his face for any signs of how he really felt about it. Alex gave nothing away, simply shook his head with a smile, showing his disbelief at his friend's actions.

"How was it?" Tom and Alex looked up at Sabina with wide eyes; what a weird question for her to ask. Sabina smiled innocently. "Oh come on you guys never let me in on anything  _men_ talk about!" Tom and Alex exchanged a look.

"And that's why." Alex replied. Sabina pouted at him and he carried on; "because you don't talk like a guy, you ask how it was and how Tom felt afterwards and if he'll see her again-"

"Yeah," Tom interrupted him, "all we need to know is it happened-"

"Even if it didn't." Alex said and Tom stopped mid-sentence.

"It did happen." He said slowly and Alex nodded without looking at him.

"OK." Sabina looked between the two men, unsure of what had just happened.

"So," she said loudly, trying to diffuse the tension. "Tom, when are you and Hera coming for dinner with Alex and I?" Alex inwardly groaned, why would Sabina think that was a good idea?

"Well, to be honest Sabina, you've just kind of assumed Hera and I are a couple." Tom said plainly and Sabina became embarrassed.

"I just-" Sabina was cut off as Hera walked back in.

"That was quick." Alex reacted first to cover the situation up and his ex-partner yawned into her hand.

"I decided to fill the tub instead of shower." Alex laughed.

"Please, help yourself to all the utilities of my house," Alex handed her the TV remote control, "television, ma'am?"

"Piss off." Hera said and batted his hand away.

"Hera." Sabina spoke suddenly and put on a big smile. "There's a fair in Hyde Park tomorrow, we should all go together." Hera was a little taken aback by the offer and after a quick look at Tom smiled.

"Sure."

* * *

**Kudos and comments appreciated!**


	13. House of Mirrors

_This is taking too long. If you can't handle things, Daniel will ask me to take your place. I look forward to it. N._

Glancing up from the phone and through the stray strands of chocolate hair in front of her face, the young spy saw Alex, Sabina and Tom stood in line in front of the Playhouse. It was supposedly a Funhouse of sorts and the three were being coaxed into going in by a slightly round, short man, dressed too vivaciously for Hera to be entirely comfortable around.

At first Hera had been apprehensive about coming to the fair but then figured she may as well as she had to follow Alex everywhere anyway. The fair was alive with the hubbub of middle class London, everyone enjoying the Summer air and delicious ice cream from stalls. Children chased each other with swords made from balloons whilst the adults walked lazily behind them, smiling into wine glasses and chatting with friends. Things felt so peaceful here, so unremarkable, so easy. Hera looked back at her phone.

She grimaced as she looked down to the text message she had just received. Unsurprisingly it was from her least favourite member of Swallowtail; urging her to get a move on while there was still time. Hera knew she was taking her time, she had tried convincing herself that it was just to make Alex trust her again but she knew there was something else going on here. Hera was enjoying herself too much. She knew she was getting soft, losing her edge; she wasn't prepared to kill anyone today or have any faux duels with Molotov. The young spy sighed and placed her phone back in her jeans pocket while wondering when the last time she'd worn jeans was. She had become so accustomed to a lavish lifestyle that she never seemed to ear casual clothes.

Hera had to get a grip of the situation; Alex, Sabina, Tom…they weren't her friends. She needed to do her job and get back to the task at hand. Hera did not realise it fully but in the back of her mind, the young girl knew she was breaking, she was allowing herself to become close to people after years of learning to put up walls. If she did not put a stop to it soon, she could end up risking everything just to tell him how she really felt. But even she had no idea what was going on between them.

Upon hearing her name her thoughts were snuffed out like a candle in the wind. She looked over to her supposed friends and saw she was being beckoned by Sabina. There was definitely an air of calm and ease with Sabina now and Hera was grateful; she would hate to be on Sabina's bad side.

As Hera approached them, zigzagging her way through folks that smiled at her as she walked past them, Alex had to look away. Something was going on inside of him that made his head hurt and heart ache. He pulled Sabina in close and felt her put her hands on his chest. This is where he belonged. The blonde had to constantly remind himself of where his heart really was. Memories of nights in Venice began to shine brighter than the last few days of his relationship with Hera. Thoughts of her as a villain were fading away as she became closer to him. He had to put a stop to feeling this way.

"You chicken?" Tom asked her as she approached them. Hera squinted in the sunlight to look up at the board that hung above them, showing the name of the "house" they were stood in front of. It was a House of Mirrors.

"Never been called chicken before," Hera murmured back and shot him a sideways glance, "and I see no need to have it as a nickname now."

"Young lady," Hera had not even glanced at the owner of the fairground ride, who seemed to be quite in love with the character he was playing. "You will have bounteous amounts of fun," he beamed at her although all Hera could see was a bright purple waistcoat and vertically striped back and white trousers. "Especially with all the secret rooms for you to get lost in," he winked at her and this time she couldn't help but smile as he overly gestured at Tom.

I'm game." She shrugged and looked over to Sabina and Alex. Hera found it strange how Sabina seemed to call all the shots in the relationship. Whenever she had known Alex, he had always been decisive and in charge, he never followed like a lost puppy. Although, at some points in their careers together, Hera had seen elements of that long lost boy Alex never wanted to be.

"Sounds good to me," Sabina said and without even waiting for Alex to give input, she grabbed his hand and the four handed over tokens to the scary man and walked inside.

The house was unlike what Alex had thought it would be. It was actually very beautiful; the whole house, walls and doors, was a maze of mirrors. Everywhere he looked he saw the four of them stood, in frames stretching to the infinite, all gazing around in awe.

"Last one out buys everyone a drink!" Tom explained before rushing off, pushing against a mirror and finding that it was indeed a door. The other three showed each other looks of  _we-are-way-too-old-to-be-like-that_. Until Sabina began to edge away from the other two.

"I think I'll try my luck this way." She said quietly before slipping through another secret door. Alex and Hera looked at each other with false smiles before both moving forwards quickly to try other doors. Hera's mirror opened and she took a quick glance at Alex who she saw escaping as well.

Exiting the room, Hera came to another just like it and smiled; it was a strange sight, seeing herself at so many different angles. A rush of exhilaration went through her as her smile widened. Hurling herself through mirror-doors, Hera passed herself as she ran through the maze, a whirl of light and colour shot passed her as she made her way through the Playhouse. Faster and faster, feeling herself get lost in a world of glass and reflection, she twirled and flew through it all. Once or twice she thought she saw another person but didn't stop to look again, she felt free and alone and away from everything-

"AHHH!" She screamed as she collided with another body and fell straight onto her behind. She rubbed the bottom of her thigh and looked up at Alex who held out a hand.

"Sorry about that," he said with no smile. Hera stood without taking his hand.

"It's fine." She responded, trying not to say anything that would start another argument, "let's get out of here," Hera forced a smile as she said this and walked towards a mirror. She pushed gently but nothing happened, she could see, over her shoulder, Alex's reflection pushing against a mirror opposite but it wouldn't budge. The pair moved around the room, gentle nudges on mirror turned to pushes with all their strength as they realised none of them would open. Their awkward smiles faded as they realised they were enclosed in this box of mirrors.

"What the hell?" Alex muttered as he pushed against the last mirror. "Isn't this the entrance?" he asked her and indicated towards a mirror. They could see a tiny creak with sunlight streaming through. Hera put her ear against the cold glass of the mirror and nodded as she heard the sounds of outside loud and clear. She took a step back.

Alex and his first love stood in silence, staring at the door to the Playhouse that would not open. For a second neither thought much about being stuck in the room by themselves but then they realised they were stuck with each other. Glancing over at each other quickly, the same feeling of nervousness and unease seeped from one to the other and Hera couldn't take the thought of being alone with him. She ran to the doors and banged her fist against it.

"Hey!" She shouted, "hey, we're stuck in here!" Her usually soft voice echoed throughout the room and she turned, hyper venting slightly out of desperation, to see Alex carefully scouring every inch of the walls to see if there was any escape. The blonde turned back to her and shook his head; they shared a look of embarrassment before a voice boomed over the Tannoy system.

"Um, hello people stuck in the House," the high-pitched male voice spoke uncertainly as Hera rolled her eyes. "The system seems to have locked you in," the two teenagers groaned; this kid sounded younger than them. "If you just give us ten minutes we'll be able to unlock the doors." Hera folded her arms in a huff and blew a stray strand of hair away from her face.

"It takes ten minutes to unlock these doors?" She wondered out loud and kicked the door with her heel. As the young spy tilted her head back to rest on the door, she spied Alex, out of the corner of her eye, simply shrug and go to stand opposite her

"Doesn't matter," he reassured her, "you only have to worry when someone's trying to kill me right?" Hera lifted her head back up to him as he said this, "and no one in here is going to kill me," Alex gestured around the room as Hera smiled. He seemed to notice the wicked smirk Hera had and stopped trying to improve the situation. The girl slid down the door and sat on the floor in front of him. Alex followed suit and the two sat in silence.

Ten minutes…a mental clock seemed to tick past the seconds…what were they going to do for ten minutes? Both of them looked around the room, begging for the ground to open up and swallow the other just so this agonizing feeling of want and confusion would evaporate.

"I always loved mirrors." Hera said suddenly. Alex looked up at her and frowned. "Not because I like to look at myself," she added sheepishly, "but because I always thought there was another world with you in it where everything was the other way around. So when you were sad here, there was a world where you were happy. I know it doesn't make any sense." Hera concluded and Alex looked around them, into the mirrors. It was strange to see himself now, at the age of nineteen, a year behind everyone else at school…but that didn't even seem to matter, a normal life didn't seem to matter. When he looked in the mirror now all he saw was someone who was lost. "But you know what used to really make my head spin?" She smiled as she said it but did not look at him, "I always wondered what side was real. What side of the mirror was I on?" Alex looked down to his hands in his lap and smiled. She was always like this, dreamy and almost fictional in her whimsical thoughts. He smile faded to nothingness.

Alex hated this. He hated this situation of being unaware of all the feelings filling up in the space between them. He hated that they were at a fair. He hated that he had to lie to himself. His blue eyes narrowed on the mirrored ceiling above him and he saw Hera sat opposite him, fiddling with the pear-shaped diamond around her neck. If she didn't care for him, would she still wear it? Lowering his gaze, he looked across to her. Her chocolate hair fell in luscious waves past her shoulders and her pink, full lips were just as untouched and perfect as he remembered. Why did things turn out this way? He was beginning to forget the answer.

"I've missed you." Hera said suddenly and bit her bottom lip, she looked up at him, begging for him to look at her but he didn't. "Nothing was the same without you." Alex finally looked at her, right into her eyes for what seemed like the first time. "I just want to-"

"What, Hera?" Alex spoke harshly and stood up.

"I just want to be honest." She said and stood to. "You know how hard it is for me to make myself vulnerable?"

"NO!" Alex shouted at the top of his lungs and Hera jumped, she had never heard Alex like this, he had never frightened her before. "No, I've forgotten," he spat at her, "because I've watched you do it like it was written in a play, acting out the lines to our enemies to seduce them." Alex put his head in his hands and looked at the ceiling, not truly knowing where this anger was coming from. Hera had begun to shake.

"You were my best friend." She said quietly.

"Fuck off." He spat the words out like venom. "Are you going go on to tell me how you never really knew your parents, how your life always seemed empty but now you've found me-" Alex was stopped mid-sentence as Hera struck her hand across his face. For a moment there was no feeling in his cheek but as the burning sensation of pain sunk in, he looked to her as though she were mad.

He was caught, off guard, by the Hera he had known three years ago in Venice. The beautiful, innocent, real woman he had come to know seemed to be back in the room as he could see in the cold stare in her eyes that what she felt was real.

"Did you ever care for me?" She asked slowly, her eyes beginning to glisten. She seemed far away, as though she weren't really looking at Alex but back into her memories of him. "When you were just you and I was just me…was that real?" She asked again. With confidence and a new power Hera had never witnessed, Alex put his hands on either side of her face and looked deep into her eyes. He shook his head. It was all an act, he knew it, she had done this to enemies when they were eighteen; making the man feel powerful and in charge by pretending to be vulnerable, she got them to do whatever they wanted. He knew it wasn't real, he just didn't know why it was working.

"You know how long it took to get over you?" Alex whispered and put his forehead against hers. They looked into each others eyes as Hera shook her head softly. They closed their eyes as Hera let out a slow breath. "Do you have any idea how much you made me hate you, when all I wanted was to be with you?" He said and with that his hands left her face and found her hips, he pulled her in close and kissed her.

Fingernails scraped against flesh as they wanted to be as close as possible. The girl let out a gasp as Alex bit her neck and when he heard this he moved away from her to look at her face. They seemed to search each other, as though asking if this were real.

"I have wanted to do that since the day I met you." Alex whispered and Hera felt no need to talk anymore, she grabbed him by the neck and bought him back into embrace. At some point Hera felt her back hit a wall but she didn't care. She was with him, with Alex, she could finally feel him and hold him and show him how crazy he drove her.

"OK." The kisses all stopped at once. The boy spoke over the Tannoy system as Alex and Hera broke apart; both were bought back to reality and looked at each other with widening eyes, realising their mistake. Alex took a few steps back and mouthed the word "no," shaking his head, thinking only of Sabina. How could he let himself be seduced?

Hera put a hand to her lips and looked to the floor; what had she done, he didn't love her. He abandoned her. They were both just holding on to the last piece of happiness they had had. She had a job to do. She couldn't do this.

"We're going to open the door now." And with that the door opened. Before Hera could turn to Alex and say anything he was out the door.

* * *

Alex Rider's room used to be filled with posters of football players, gadgets and empty plates of food. Now all that occupied it was his life with her. Perfume bottles and jewellery boxes now cluttered the desk, dresses hung in cupboards he never opened anymore and he knew he never wanted to go back to what there was before. Sabina had saved him; she had turned his whole life around. When he thought that he couldn't go on, she had been there for him, she was the one who truly cared.

He had made a mistake by letting himself be seduced by Hera. She was a murderer and a liar who sought only after her own happiness. It was pathetic, now that he thought about it. Hera was nothing to him. The girl he once knew was dead.

Sitting on the end of their bed now, Alex looked down to the box in his hands and knew what he had to do. Whether the decision was fuelled out of guilt, he did not know. Whether it was gratitude, he didn't know either. All he did know was that he loved her, when he was with her he was safe, he was content. Flipping open the lid of the box he looked down to the diamond ring inside and smiled. The stone was pear-shaped. It was perfect as was she. This was the right thing to do.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Tom asked, "you seem distracted." Hera was stood in her hallway with a cup of tea in her hand, absentmindedly twirling a piece of hair with her fingers. What had happened in the Playhouse was spinning through her mind; what was she feeling now? It's like they had given up on hating each other and just given in to temptation. But he abandoned her, left her staring into her own reflection.

"Hmmm?" She looked up to Tom and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," she shook her head, "just…" she couldn't complete the thought for she had looked down at a table with the telephone on it and spotted pictures of a car. A Toyota Supra. With all sorts of annotations and diagrams beside it. "What is this?" She asked bluntly and Tom beamed.

"It's a little project of mine, sorry I shouldn't have left my work everywhere," Tom's sudden burst of confidence seemed to fizzle out as Hera did not seem impressed but put down her mug and starting shifting through the papers. "Do you…like cars?" Hera didn't seem to be listening and responded automatically.

"it's sort an occupational requirement." She murmured before putting all the papers down and turning to him. Eventually Hera remembered where she was and smiled at him. "I…" Hera's smile faded. The world turned dark and a giant wave of ice crashed through her. She found she could not speak. Looking over Tom's shoulder she saw, on the other side of the street, through an open window, Alex on one knee and a smile on Sabina's face. Hera heard her mug shatter into a million tiny pieces on the floor.

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**Kudos and comments appreciated :)**


	14. Notes from the Enemy

**Hello everyone, I've decided to write shorter chapters as this will probably encourage me to write more often and get the story moving along a bit. If you feel otherwise then let me know, depending on the response I might go back to writing longer chapters.**

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The world was breaking. There was something in Hera's chest, deeper than her soul, constricting and twisting, stopping her heartbeat dead in it's tracks, making room for an ache. Tom was on his knees, clearing up the remnants of her mug, speaking to her but the world seemed to be devoid of sound. Her sight clouded until all she could see was the outline of the window she was looking into, distant and blurred, figures embraced in another house.

In an instant the world was restored with the bussing of a mobile phone. Sound squelched, unwelcomed, back into her ears and she looked down to the table next to her, her mobile phone had lit up and began rattling against the cold marble.

Daniel

The name on the phone shone through tears of frustration. She couldn't quite believe what had happened. Looking at her other side, Tom stood up next to her. His smile faded as he stood and saw there was something, something that wasn't there before, in her eyes.

"Hera?" He whispered, because he wasn't sure if she was looking at him or through him. The word grabbed her evaporating attention.

"Hey, Tom," she said with a small smile, "do you want some tea?" She asked as she passed him and walked to the kitchen. Tom followed after a moment of hesitation; Hera was acting strange. Her childish-like sweetness had vanished, the way she smiled with her lips and her eyes was no longer there, instead there was coldness and forced politeness. It was almost as though her old self were back.

When Tom had first met Hera, she had an awkwardness about her, like she hadn't known how to act around people that weren't involved in her job. The girl did not know what it was like to hang around "normal" people. In their first meeting she had tried to strangle him without question. As Tom followed her into the kitchen he realised what the strange air about her was; she didn't care about anyone.

"Are you alright?" Tom asked slowly as he watched her put the kettle on. Hera was staring out of the kitchen window, to Tom it must have looked as though she were idly eyeing up the hydrangeas in the garden for he was unable to see the way her eyes were dancing, catching sight of threads of the plan she was trying to weave. Sunshine shone through the window and Hera turned back to him.

"Fine, sorry, fine." She muttered quickly before gesturing to the papers in Tom's hand. "When are you going to show me this car?"

* * *

Mrs Jones was getting bored. She never let it show, she kept herself professional at all times, trying to show the younger members of the department that a life of hard work and discipline will leave you satisfied. She had reason to believe that her ruse wasn't working; junior staff were becoming complacent and arrogant. It was this ridiculous Swallowtail chase; Blunt had given orders to find them before the Americans and that meant overtime and obnoxious rewards for delivering useful information.

She clicked on her laptop through useless files sent to her by her agents. One after another, after another, after another, had found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Dull, boring, tireless work.

"Mrs Jones?" Her beady eyes flitted up from the screen for a moment to see an intern, scruffy and worn looking from the night shift, stood awkwardly at her office door. She must have been so absorbed in her work that she didn't hear him knock, she nodded to him to enter. Her eyes never left him as he crossed the room to her, he wore a suit that was too big for him, although Mrs Jones speculated it had fit him a few weeks ago and it was being worked ragged like this that had caused him to lose an unhealthy amount of weight in a short time. His chocolate coloured eyes darted from one side of the room to the other, he was nervous to be in front of such an esteemed colleague. Brushing waves of chestnut brown hair from his eyes and placing some files on her desk he stood to attention.

"We have found something, ma'am," Mrs Jones tried not to roll her eyes as she pleaded for him to hurry up. "The leader of Swallowtail has made contact." He said eagerly and Mrs Jones raised an eyebrow, secretly impressed. She didn't like to show her junior staff that she appreciated them or let them in on anything she knew so she kept quiet and gave a gentle nod. She moved forwards to take the top file.

"Thank you...?" She waited for his name.

"Goodchild," he responded happily, "Daniel." She smiled curtly at him before opening the file. In it was a single, creamy-yellow, post-it note with one word written in black, spidery ink: BOO. Mrs Jones dropped the file and looked up, the man was gone.

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**Kudos and comments appreciated :)**


	15. His Last Goodbye

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_~ Royal and General Bank, Conference Room B2, two years ago ~_

"You always love being fucking right, you can't stand to be wrong!" Hera screamed from one side of the room, leaning over a long wooden table, panting with frustration at her partner. Alex appraised her from the other side of the table, the sight of London through the windows behind him, buzzing with life and winter sunshine made Hera even more livid as she wondered how the whole world was not burning in flames with her. Alex put his hands on the chair in front of him and controlled his voice as a whisper as best he could.

"You think that's what this is about?" He almost laughed in disbelief. "You think I am overlooking the fact that three other agents,  _our friends,_ died, because I don't want to be wrong?!" He shook his head at her, hands gripping the chair with such intense frustration that his knuckles turned white.

"Their deaths were necessary," Hera retaliated, raising her voice, "don't tell me how to do my job!" That last sentence drew Alex to such a level of frustration that he almost laughed over how insane this made him. He shook his head with a sick smile.

" Your job." He muttered under his breath before putting his face in his hands and reaching up to his hair to tug at it. With this, the fight in him went out; the realisation that she was not going to change made him weak with despair. "That's it." He said clearly, I'm done." Hera jerked in surprise.

"What do you mean?" She seemed completely baffled by his resignation.

"Blunt and Jones both know I only stuck with this bullshit because of you, because I wanted to protect you. Because, for some stupid fucking reason I let myself fall in love with you." He paused. "I'm done." Alex sighed before adding: "you don't need my help; you need a therapist" He began to walk around the table to exit through the door next to Hera.

"Alex-"

"Fuck off, Hera."

"I need you." With this, Alex turned to her, disgusted now that he even had to be in the same room as her.

"Yeah? Well I needed you. " He spat at her and walked to her, came close to her face so she could see the anger pent up inside him, "the old you. The one who gave a shit about other people-"

"Of course I give a shit!" Hera shouted desperately before putting her hands on his shoulder.

"Prove it. " He whispered to her but he could already see that they had both made up their minds.

"What?"

"Prove to me that you care about anyone other than yourself. "

"How am I suppose to do that?"

Alex grabbed her shoulders this time and looked deep into her beautiful eyes before pulling her in to kiss her. Hera seemed to melt into his arms, begging to be swept away by him, to make love to him finally after so many years of aching from need. But as soon as it started it stopped, Hera opened her eyes to see him, on the brink of agony. "Leave with me." He whispered, looking down at Hera as her eyes danced as though trying to search for the answer on his face. Her body went limp and numb as she resigned herself to the inevitable.

"I can't." She said in a deep, low voice, full of regret. " You know I can't." Hera looked to the floor, not wanting to know what was going to happen next. Alex let go of her lifeless body and walked past her.

"Then this is goodbye."

"Alex, please." Hera turned to him and he stopped, his hand on the doorknob, ready to walk out of her life. "I have a duty to my country-"

"Fuck your country, you have a duty to your friends."

"You think these people are our friends?!" Hera shouted, she had no idea now what she was even saying but she knew that as soon as this conversation ended that was it. He was leaving her. Alex simply stared a the cold, dead wood of the door in front of him.

"You are so far gone." he whispered, "you are beyond help. I have to leave, I can't take what this is doing to me." Alex fought back tears as his voice began to break, "seeing you become like this," he took a breath to compose himself as Hera began to shake her head, tears streaming down her face, " it has torn me to pieces. I was in love with you. I don't even know who the fuck you are anymore."

"Alex, no-" but he was already gone. Hera's knees hit the floor before she even knew she had fallen down, weakened by heart ache and abandonment. It was Smithers who found her, she looked tiny and forgotten, sat with her knees brought up to her chest, with no more tears to give, she let him take her home.

_~ Present Day ~_

Not a day went by when Hera did not think about that moment. The moment he left her. Only once before had she felt like that; empty and alone to the point of numbing despair. Once when she had been forced to kill her father. But now, she could swear that feeling was rising up inside of her again. As she sat at her dressing table, a girl in a dark red dress stared back at her in the mirror, eyes empty and dark.

"We best make a move," she heard Tom say as he came into the room," they're expecting us around now." Hera could not even force a smile, she nodded and pretended to be focusing on her earring so she did not have to be drawn into conversation. They had received an invitation to dinner that afternoon, Sabina called Tom's phone and gave the news. They were supposed to be celebrating .

As Hera stood from her dressing table, the world seemed to be especially quiet and running in slow motion, Tom moved around her like a ghost, unnoticed and unwelcome to her.

_"I don't even know who the fuck you are anymore."_ The words played over and over in her mind as Tom handed her her coat. They made their way down the stairs of Hera's house, all the while Hera was talking to Tom but her mind was elsewhere, her thoughts were fixated on her last meeting with Daniel. Her mind filled with images of being re-united with her boss and suddenly Hera felt the life switch on inside of her. She remembered who she was, how strong, how skilled, how much better she was than anyone else and she knew exactly where she belonged. Right next to Daniel, at the front of his empire. With a small smile Hera knew exactly what she had to do.

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**Kudos and comments appreciated!**


	16. Dinner Date

**This is the longest will they/won't they in the history of will they/wont they-s**

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"Hey!" Sabina opened the door to Ian Rider's house with a bright smile and was taken aback as Tom swooped in to embrace her. This gave Hera a brief moment to put on a face of happy surprise.

"Congratulations!" Tom bellowed through the house as he practically picked Sabina up. The girl still looked shocked when Tom dropped her on her feet again.

"Congratulations." Hera said through a forced smile and embraced Sabina with one arm. Again her shoulder Hera smelt her flowery perfume; so mundane, so drab, so unlike anything Hera wanted to know.

"Thank you." Sabina whispered back. As the two girls pulled away from each other, they glanced over at Tom who looked slightly disgruntled.

"Where's Alex?" He asked, looking very much like a lost child. Sabina laughed and pointed further into the house.

"Setting the table." As she waved her hand to gesture Tom down the hall, Hera caught sight of something glittering on her finger.

"Oh, let me see the ring!" Hera squealed in a way she had heard women do when eavesdropping on their lifeless conversations during her travels. Sabina held out her hand to reveal a pear-shaped diamond sitting on her finger. Hera almost laughed.

"It's…beautiful." She admitted and followed Sabina into the dining room. Inside, Tom was across the table from Alex, putting out china plates and silver cutlery.

"I'll bring in some food, Tom, help me." Sabina instructed and Hera, who found this a little bossy, wonder why the girl thought it was okay to leave Hera and Alex alone. Did no one else see it? Did no one else feel what was going on between the two of them? Hera stood awkwardly by the door, staring into the mirror opposite her; taking in a face that didn't look like hers for it was smiling.

Alex was staring at her from across the room. Almost exactly how they were stood in that meeting room two years ago, both on opposite sides of a war, wondering who would break first.

"Go on." Alex said suddenly, "say something." Upon hearing this, the female spy sighed with regret and looked up at him. What should she say?  _Isn't nineteen a little young? What next, a joint savings account? How will you possibly handle such excitement?_ But she couldn't say those things, she didn't want to.

"I don't want to argue-"

"I can see it coming so just get it over with." Alex snapped. She just stood there, looking delicate and vulnerable as she pushed her hair behind her ear and searched for the right words. Looking over at him, a million thoughts came to her at once. His blue eyes narrowed on her as he held on to the chair in front of him, waiting for her quips.

_I'm sorry, Alex. I'm sorry couldn't be the one to give you the things you wanted. The things you needed. I'm glad you found someone who could. And even though my heart is broken from years of longing for you, I am happy. Because you will be. Because you will finally be rid of me._

"Well done." She spoke clearly into the room two words Alex could not understand. His face screwed up in confusion.

"Well done?" He repeated slowly. Hera nodded at him/

"You did it." She admitted with a shrug, her hair falling from her shoulder. "You got what you always wanted. A normal life." Alex had no idea how to feel, enraged or miserable, as Hera put a finger up to her eye and wiped away a tear. "Congratulations." She smiled at him with trembling lips. "I'm going to see if Sabina needs any help."

"Hera-" Alex called after her but she had already left the room.

Dinner was one of the oddest experiences Alex or Hera had ever had. There he was, sat with a girl he had chosen to marry, looking over at a psychotic killer he wanted to know the taste of. Perhaps that was all it was, lust? Perhaps there was no love between them at all, now or in the past. And she, who bit her red lips at his best friend, kept Alex in the corner of her vision. Eyeing up his movements, keeping her hands on Tom at all times. Laughing at his jokes, stroking his arm. It was at one of Tom's particularly whimsical anecdotes that Hera decided she had had enough of this suburban babysitting bullshit. It was time to take action.

"Well, I am best man," Tom looked around the table slowly, "I am best man, right?" He whispered to Alex who nodded with a smile. Bringing her glass to her lips, Hera took a sip of wine and looked over to Sabina. The girl's eyes were unfocussed, she yawned as though exhausted and blinked up at Hera as though a child who wanted to sleep. Tom also, began to droop in his seat, he appetite suddenly gone. In fact, he felt quite sick.

Suddenly, Sabina grasped Alex's hand on the dinner table.

"Alex, I feel funny." She said timidly. Alex, who shook his head as though to wake himself up, looked over at Sabina with the same, foggy eyes.

"I wouldn't worry." Slowly, all three dinner guests looked over to Hera who sat back in her chair, sipping on wine. "The dose isn't enough to kill you." Tom's chair toppled over as he stood, sluggish from the table. He staggered around and leant against the table for support, looking at Hera with wide, terrified eyes. "You'll be fine if you just sit down and go to sleep." Hera said almost like a school teacher.

"Hera…" Sabina whispered and collapsed onto the table. Tom too slipped off the table and onto the floor.

"Hera." Alex said quietly. The ex-spy was holding onto the table as though the room were spinning, his eyes could not focus proper on her but he could make out that she leant towards him and was looking him in the eye. "What…what have you-?"

"Do you know who I am now, Alex?" She interrupted and in his last few moments of consciousness saw her remove from her handbag a set of car keys and a small pistol. "I'm the bad guy."

* * *

**They won't.**

**…** **Or will they? Hahahaha.**

**Is it still working. Is the magic there? Do I need to re-write? GIVE ME ADVICE**

**Kudos and comments appreciated!**


	17. Running the Redline

 

 

 

Mrs Jones placed her Versace handbag on her desk with a sharp  _thwack_ ; she was growing impatient with the lack of news over Swallowtail. Her juniors had been working non-stop for days now and each of them seemed to be withering away with every hour spent in front of their computer. Mrs Jones was no exception; her nails were beginning to discolour as the long nights had led her to take up a bad habit. No longer could the act of sucking on a sweet suffice; she often escaped from meetings to have a cigarette in the quiet confines of the car park. The pressure was beginning to break the usually pristine and resilient woman. She had been in this line of work for a long time, she had seen all there was to see, but Mrs Jones was beginning to develop wrinkles around her eyes from frowning and no amount of  _La Prairie_  was going to fix them. Blunt was growing impatient. He hounded her day and night for some form of progress, for any sign of what Swallowtail was up to, but…nothing.

As the woman took her car keys from her handbag, she glanced at her filing cabinet beside her desk. The last file she had put away was Hera's. That girl, Mrs Jones frowned with frustration; she would be the end of all of them. Things had become stagnant, putrified, in Alex's Rider's absence, and Hera had taken a massive knock because of it. Mrs Jones never usually felt responsible for anything; she did her job for her country and that was that. But, she mused as she hitched her handbag up to hang on her arm, she could not help but realise that she was responsible for Hera's loss. The girl had killed her father and pushed away the only man she was ever close to. All because of her work with MI6. Mrs Jones had capitalised on that; took a lone warrior and crafted her into something deadly. Her gaze dropped from the filing cabinet as she wondered about Hera; had she ever had a normal life? Did she ever go and see a movie? Of course, Mrs Jones had never wondered such trivial things before but, this late in the game, she could not help but think about it.

She turned to her office door and pushed it open. The lights on this floor glared with full brightness down on the team who were working the graveyard shift. There was no such thing as a 'graveyard shift', in this business, but due to the lack of leads, the team had slowly adopted the phrase; every shift with this department was turning into a graveyard shift.

"Mrs Jones!" The woman looked up suddenly, her eyes trying to hide any trace of tiredness, as a junior approached her.

"Yes, Bennett?" She said, trying her hardest to stifle a yawn.

"There's been no activity in Alex Rider's house for seven hours now." He said in earnest, but his supervisor looked at him blankly. Now they were actually reporting the fact that there was no news?

"What exactly-"

"St Claire and Harris entered the house over seven and a half hours ago," Bennett interrupted, smoothing his hair away from his face in an irritated manner before handing Mrs Jones a sheaf of papers. "In the last seven hours there has been no movement, no sound vibrations, no lights turned on…" The woman glanced down at the papers in front of her: they were graphs showing the sound vibrations throughout the house, the times that lights were switched on and, it did seem odd from 7PM on a Saturday night to 2AM the next morning, that there should be no activity in a house where four people were supposed to be.

"Is it a glitch in the system?" She asked, putting her bag down on a nearby desk and leafing through the reports in front of her.

"That's what we assumed so we brought Smithers up to check his gadgets were doing their job." Bennett moved away and Mrs Jones followed him to the big screen in the middle of the wall on the other side of the room. On the screen was projected images of each room in Alex Rider's house, put there without his consent, each with a graph showing a sound recording. "Throughout the house there are hidden cameras, sound recorders, infrared detectors, thermal radiation-"

"Yes, yes, I know!" Mrs Jones waved away his comments impatiently. "Well, what did Smithers say?" Bennett looked lost for words for a moment.

"He said they'd been hacked." For the briefest of seconds, Mrs Jones stared at her subordinate blankly.

"Hacked?"

"Overridden, forced to put out the same information every thirty seconds, namely- no information." Bennett said wearily, "except for one room." Mrs Jones turned to him sharply.

"Which room."

"The basement." Almost like something from a horror movie, Mrs Jones found she was a little unsteady on her feet upon hearing this.

"Well? What did you find?" She urged him, placing her hands on the desk in front of her to regain her balance.

"We're still trying to regain control of the system, all we know is that there is audio and video information on record for the basement from five hours ago-"

"Well, hurry!" Mrs Jones barked at him, she turned to the room at large in which many of those working had stood up from behind their computers to see what the news was. "I want whatever is in that basement on this screen now-"

"Morning Alpha," the woman's heart skipped a beat, she turned at the sound of Alex's voice, to the screen in the middle of the room. She raised an eyebrow, everyone in the room held their breath as they saw Hera stood in Alex's basement, a gadget in her hands.

"She recorded him speaking." Bennett murmured to himself. "The Alpha system is voice activated-only Rider's voice could power it up." Mrs Jones raised an eyebrow at the screen; what on Earth was the girl up to? Hera was stood in a red dress, cocking her head to one side, her gadget, a crystal hair clip/audio recorder, hung loosely in her hand.

"Hey, Mrs Jones." Hera said smoothly, "I trust you remember my aversion to the game hide & seek?" Hera was referring to the many missions in which she had to hide from assailants trying to kill her. Anyone would expect a little hiding in a game of spies but Hera was much more of a  _'let them come. I wanna see if they can land a scratch on me,_ ' type of girl. "But I love playing chase." Mrs Jones put a hand to her mouth as a slow and gentle wave of realisation came over her. She sat down and swallowed hard. "So, MI6…catch me if you can." Hera disappeared from the screen. It went back to the dull, lifeless image of Alex Rider's basement.

"Hera," Mrs Jones breathed, "what have you done?" After a few moments of regaining her composure, Mrs Jones looked around at the group in front of her. All of her team were looking from the screen to her and back again, completely lost for words. "Get Blunt in my office-"

"Yes, ma'am." Bennett spoke quickly and ran from her side, into her office. "As for the rest of you," she turned to the group at large.

"Shall we try to find St Claire?" A girl asked from across the room. She was immediately silenced when her teammates looked at her sternly; no one tells Mrs Jones the plan of action, Mrs Jones tells them.

"No." The woman announced to the room at large. "The more pressing matter is- why does Hera want us to follow?"

* * *

There was no need to look very far at all; Hera was sat in a car, her seatbelt securely fastened, checking her lipstick in the rear view mirror. Alex Rider sat in the passenger seat beside her, drifting in and out of consciousness. In the darkness of the evening, hidden away in a small car, the dashboard lit up as Hera's phone rang. She threw her lipstick into the glove compartment and reached over for her phone.

"Everything good to go?" She heard Daniel's voice on the other end.

"Yes," came a male voice.

"Yes," she responded happily.

"Good. I'll see you soon." Hera put down the phone and started the car. With both hands on the wheel she revved the engine a few times. Almost immediately, car headlights blinked on behind her, two motorbike engines could be heard in the distance. She grinned; MI6 were going to have to do better than that.

* * *

"There is no time!" Blunt's voice, hoarse and authoritative, came through the phone line loud and clear for Mrs Jones to hear. "She is already on the move, find her!"

"But it could be a trap, a distraction-"

"Unless you have any evidence for those things, I want Hera back at the Royal and General by dawn!" He shouted, causing Mrs Jones to wince.

"Very well," she said grudgingly. As she hit a button on her office phone to end the call, Bennett ran into her office and leant against the doorframe. He was breathing heavy.

"It's no use," he exhaled, clutching his chest, "that car is something else."

* * *

With a scream of excitement and wicked smirk, Hera zoomed out of chelsea at an adrenaline-inducing 80 miles per hour. The speed and the agility of the souped up Toyota Supra enabled Hera to drive through the smallest of side streets, down stairs and through uninhabited gardens, as lightly and controlled as if she were going at a normal speed. She could hear the rev of the engines around her, their lights glaring out into the darkness of London, trying to catch sight of her. A slick, black 4x4 followed her like a hunter on its prey; attempting to get as close as possible but not managing to follow her through the tiny alleyways she took. The bikes were harder to lose; they knew every twist and turn she was going to make and followed with ease.

"There was no need to make this so dramatic." A bored voice issued from the car's audio system as Hera went straight from second to fourth gear without blinking.

"Oh, where's your sense of adventure, Jack?" Hera shouted in response, the thrill of chase clear in her voice.

"Back in sixth grade." Hera laughed as the lights of the city rushed past her. "Seriously; a night-time car chase through central London?" Her laughed out loud as she finally hit a road of open space that lead down to the Imperial Wharf. "I thought you were trying to be novel, not full of bad movie cliches." Hera put the pedal to the floor and gritted her teeth as the car accelerated. At this point she was racing ahead of the car and bikes with ease.

"When I get back, you and I can talk  _hacker-guides-spy-through-city-car-chase_  cliches all you like-"

"I look forward to it." Came the smart arse response.

"But right now," Hera said through clenched teeth, feeling the velocity making her stomach squirm, "I need to know if everything is ready." She glanced up into the rearview mirror and could she the lights of the following vehicles begin to get closer.

"You have to be at the embankment in 10…9…" As Jack spoke, Hera's eyes widened with surprise.

"That's not enough time!" She protested but Jack was no longer paying attention.

"8…7…6…"

"Damn it!" Hera had to slow down when approaching the end of the stretch of road, the bikes were catching up with her. She was about to hit the redline- the maximum engine speed but that would bring her to a point of no return; she couldn't slow down in time if she went that fast.

"5…4…"

"ARGH!" At a junction Hera slammed hard on the brakes, pulled up the handbrake and used the resulting skid of the wheels to spin the the car around and head in the opposite direction. She grunted with effort and caught a quick glimpse of the shocked faces in the 4x4. The bikers, with their quick reflexes, attempted to stop along side her but the speed they were traveling at caused the drivers to be knocked from their bikes. Hera forced the car into first gear and almost immediately jumped to third, using the slope of the road to gain momentum quickly. The bikes were down but the black panther-like car was still on her tail. She turned a corner and floored the accelerator so she zoomed along the embankment. A quick glance in the rear view mirror- the car tailing her would turn the corner in-

"2…1…Houston we have lift off."

The 4x4 turned the corner and the driver was forced to break hard as a light as powerful as ten football stadium lights, flooded the road beside the river. All sound and vision was interrupted for those in the car as they had put up their hands to shield their eyes from the sudden glare that they were not expecting at this time of the night. As they raised their hands and the driver hit the break, the car skidded and toppled. The unbearable screeching of metal against tarmac sent them into a whirl of painful sound and blinding pain.

Then, as soon as it started, it stopped. The black car gave one final topple until its roof was against the pavement, its inhabitants hanging from their chairs, barely conscious. Silence returned to the sleepy street and after a few moments to recover, the driver managed shimmy out of his seat and through the broken window. He stood, nreathing heavily, clutching at his head as blood oozed from it and looked around. His eyes re-adjusted to the darkness and his head turned this way and that.

But Hera was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

**Kudos and comments appreciated!**


	18. Paradise

Alex's throat was aching with thirst. It was the first thing he felt; that dry, itchy, agonising hurt for a sip of water, is what pulled him back into consciousness. His eyes flickered open but they seemed not to be working very well; they refused to stay open for long or even focus on anything in the dimly lit room. He closed his eyes and in a desperate attempt to figure out where he was, he flung his arms out to either side of him but all he felt was, unsurprisingly, the soft bedsheets that swaddled him. His head was foggy and begging him to go back to sleep but he knew he couldn't; he had to focus, he had to get out. Alex's fingers brushed against the linen curiously as he opened his eyes again to stare at the ceiling. Slowly, a chandelier came into focus and he recognised the feel of the bedsheets as that kind of cotton Jack Starbright used to love; cold, hard and scratchy but oddly comfortable. They were the kind of sheets you would find in an expensive hotel. Even the chandelier, which was fully in focus now and no longer swimming about his vision, was a modern mesh of twisted metal, the kind you would find somewhere expensive.

"Ugh," Alex grunted with the effort it was taking to get feeling back into his body. His limbs felt heavy and unresponsive to his brain telling them to move. Alex stopped for a minute in a bid to get his head straight; thoughts were tumbling around him in his disoriented state. The last thing he remembered was Hera at dinner, in a red dress. That was it, he cursed himself, just the vision of her, that's all he had been paying attention to. Someone had been next to him, his mind travelled back to those memories at dinner…Sabina! She had been holding onto his arm and looked at him with unfocussed eyes. She had been drugged.  _He_  had been drugged! Suddenly the heavenly vision of Hera turned dark, her hair fell in front of her face and her porcelain face cracked as though to form a malevolent smirk…Hera had drugged him and brought him here.

The cold realisation of the situation seeped into Alex's bones and seemed to wake him up. His eyes snapped open; that grotesque, overly-decadent chandelier that reminded him of barbed wire, came into focus and he sat up to look around him. The blinds were drawn and the room was bathed in a dim, dull light that emitted from all around him; the chandelier, bedside lamps, small lights lining the wardrobe in front of him. Everything was in creamy, rich tones of brown, mauve and ivory. Everything was luxurious; from the cotton bedsheets to the impressive, ornately carved desk in the room. It looked like an antique, Alex observed as he squinted at it. Looking to his left, Alex jumped out of bed and struggled to find his feet for a moment as he was unbalanced from the drugs still going through his system, before he ran up to a coffee table in the room, on which was placed a water bottle. He unscrewed the lid and drank eagerly until he had guzzled down every last drop. Breathing heavy, Alex turned back to face the room.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror; he was still in his clothes he wore at dinner. His hardened blue eyes looked back at him and a sudden strange and familiar feeling came to him; that same feeling he would get on a new mission. This was exactly that: escape from being held prisoner. A mission. He hated it, it almost made him sick to realise he had missed this feeling. The same feeling of stepping out into the unknown in search of something precious. He looked away from his reflection and instead checked his belongings, as he had been trained to do. Looking down he saw his shoes, socks and watch had been removed and, searching the room, they were nowhere to be found. In the wardrobe, he found trainers, dark trousers and a black t-shirt, with the label 'for dinner' placed neatly on the folded clothes. He washed his face and changed quickly, almost eager to see who it was Hera had brought him to.

Upon leaving his room as quietly as possible, Alex almost gasped at the mere size of the building he was in. Like the Tardis, his room gave no indication that it would open up into a mansion but it did. Dark wood made up staircases, four staircases to be exact, which connected the corners of this first level to a massive open hallway below. Three crystal chandeliers, the size of which Alex had never seen, hung at differing heights int he middle of the hall. Soft, nude-coloured carpet lined the wooden floors and ran along the staircases in a way that reminded Alex of a labyrinth The scent of oak and flowers was drifting in on a breeze although, as Alex peered around, he could see the floor-to-ceiling windows were unopened and the impenetrable darkness outside told him it was very late in the evening.

No one was around, which was surprising; this place looked like an old museum where at least thirty people were required to keep it upright and clean. A floorboard creaked on the floor below him and the sound seemed to echo through the hall with the same jarring sound as a gong being struck. Gently, Alex crept toward the banister in the hopes of seeing someone emerge from one of the rooms below.

"You can come down for dinner now." A voice called up to Alex. The ex-spy jumped as the voice came from below but he could only make out a shadow on the floor in the hall. Realising he had absolutely no plan to escape, Alex decided it was better to greet his host. He descended the staircase, still marvelling at the magnificence of the house. It had an odd feel to it; it wasn't English, Alex could tell from the regal staircases and pastel colours that it was more like a chateaux. Was he in France? How much time had passed since dinner at his uncle's house?

The blonde took a light step off the final stair and jumped as he finally noticed a man in a suit, coat-tails and all, looking distinctly like a butler, watching him from a passageway to his right.

"This way, Mr Rider." The man said in an accent Alex couldn't quite place; it was European but with a twinge of something American. He was not the person who had called up to Alex. The man, who had greying hair and wrinkles which indicated he was in his late fifties, moved off in the kind of manner that told Alex to follow him. The ex-spy obliged and followed the man through an archway and passage with a low-ceiling and that same floral-woody scent. Alex tried to gain some sort of understanding of where he was but this place was difficult to categorise; it had the structure and elegance of a French chateaux, but the furnishings and decor that reminded him of Italy. It gave nothing away about the outside world for all windows showed such perfect pitch darkness that Alex was convinced they must be boarded up, or else the mansion was sitting amidst nothingness.

The sound of a crackling fire caught Alex's attention and he peered around the butler, to see the back of another man, stood in a sharp, navy blue suit. The man was staring into the fire, his back to Alex, holding a bell-bottomed snifter, swirling the contents of his glass idly. He turned as the shadow of the butler fell upon the floor beside him, alerting him to his guest's arrival. As he turned, Alex recognised him instantly; Sabina would point him out in newspapers and magazines, the ' _Biotech Billionaire'._ With dark shaggy hair and equally dark eyes, the handsome man approached Alex in an almost cheery manner.

"Alex!" He exclaimed, "Daniel Goodchild." The well-dressed man held out his hand but was disappointed to find that Alex merely stared at him in response. "Yes," Daniel retracted his hand; he had the awkward air about him that posh English people have when they realise they're a little too posh for the company they're keeping. "I suppose," the billionaire muttered, "given the circumstances, pleasantries are bygones at this point." All the while his eyes never left Alex's until he had the same realisation that everyone else does: those cold blue eyes were shared only with one other person in this world.

"Where am I?" Alex asked, ignoring everything Goodchild was saying.

"I will hide nothing from you." The man, who Alex guessed was a few years older than him, spoke sincerely and put a hand on his heart. "You are in Saint-Èmilion," he spoke with a perfect accent, "south of France," the tone of is voice unnerved Alex; Goodchild almost spoke as though Alex would be happy to hear he had been abducted and taken to a nice place. This thought seemed to manifest itself as an expression of suspicion on Alex's face. "She told me you liked this part of France." The look on Goodchild's face told Alex he knew exactly what he was doing. Alex knew Goodchild had used the pronoun 'she' to peak Alex's interest, to latch on to something Alex would want to know more about. Who else could ' _she'_ refer to?

"I know." The two men made direct eye contact as Goodchild spoke. "About your past. I know about her." Goodchild walked towards the centre of the room where there was a beautiful wooden table, which could seat at least sixteen, but was set for three. He went to take a seat at the head of the table and gestured for Alex took do the same. After a moments hesitation, Alex took a seat to the right of the enemy. "Hera," he said her name softly, with a slight sigh, "I know her well, actually." He smiled a little, showing perfect, dazzling teeth, "she goes to your head like wine." Alex almost scoffed; Hera had clearly perfected her 'damsel in distress' technique with this guy. "She has this way about her; you don't even realise you're in love until she tells you she's not." Alex lowered his gaze. No, it wasn't the usual routine. It meant it was real; Goodchild had fallen for her. Alex knew all too well because- "Same thing happened to you," Goodchild, keeping a hand on his glass, lifted a finger to point at Alex, a small grin on his face. Alex simply looked up at him darkly. "I don't know why I was so," He searched for the right word, "interested in meeting you. Only guy Hera couldn't get out of her head." He muttered as though that was an explanation. Alex tried to stop his eyes widening with surprise.

"You're in her movements, you know," the man continued, adjusting the cuff of his shirt beneath his jacket. "When she goes for her gun she looks to her right side to see who is covering her. You see the frown when she realises there is no one there." Goodchild lowered his gaze and his voice; "when she's looking straight at me, she's searching for you." Taking a sip of cognac and indicating to the butler to pour some for Alex, Goodchild relaxed back in his chair. "I wonder: does Sabina feel the same way? Does she see you searching for Hera?" Alex jerked suddenly, thinking only of his girlfriend. Where was she? Was she safe?

"What do you know about Sabina?" Alex asked, a slight growl entering his voice, matching the crackle of the fire in the background.

"Very little, only what Hera wishes to divulge." Alex watched as the butler poured a rich red-gold liquid from a crystal carafe into the tumbler at his place setting. It swirled like a golden typhoon into the glass. "Nineteen, beautiful, student, your fiancé." As the billionaire finished his description of Sabina, he saw Alex wince a little at the last phrase. This interested the criminal mastermind. "I am not one to make such personal threats, Alex." Goodchild assured him, placing his hand on his heart again, "I hate it, in fact. I go after men who have empires to be taken down, work to be destroyed; I would never stoop so low as to threaten a man's family." Goodchild watched the ex-agent with interest; who was Alex more concerned about? It was one of Daniel's greatest joys; to figure people out, to know what made them tick, what motivated and dissuaded them. Because, in the end, that built his fortune; the ability to manipulate and control.

It all started with information. The more you could know about someone or something, the closer you were to controlling them. He appraised Alex; the blonde was so alike to her, it was fascinating. They both ached for the same thing, they both could be played in the same script. Who should Daniel choose to motivate Alex? He made up his mind as he saw Alex reach over for the drink.

"MI6 have Sabina now and we're keeping a close eye on them." Daniel said in a reassuring tone. "I'm sure Blunt has plenty to talk to her about." He leant forwards, "no, I won't threaten you with her life, but principle is not the only reason making me promise this. I know that there is no escape for you; you will not attempt to flee, or contact MI6 or refuse my instruction. SO there is no need to threaten you." Alex cocked his head at the man.

"How do you know that?"

"Because you're a good person." As Daniel spoke, Alex raised an eyebrow.

"What does that-"

"And you would give your life for Hera's."

"Clearly you haven't paid much attention for the last three years; Hera and I are finished." Alex spat at him.

"I have my suspicions that that is not true. I see the way you are looking at her." Alex's eyes snapped back to Goodchild's. Alex had noticed a figure emerge from a door on the other side of the room, behind Goodchild and in walked Hera, looking like she stepped straight out of paradise. "Evening, Hera." Daniel spoke without turning to look at her. She approached wearing a white sari; a traditional indian outfit which consisted of a cropped blouse, decorated with what Alex would call small mirrors, and then a long piece of material wrapped around a petticoat and draped on her shoulder. She walked up happily to the pair of them and squeezed Daniel's should affectionately as she approached the table. Her smile glittered just as the diamonds around her neck did.

"Hey!" She smiled brightly down at Daniel as she took her seat. The material of her sari was a fine, see-though chiffon. Alex could make out the curve of her hips, her smooth and toned stomach that she trained every day to maintain. Hera sat down next to Daniel who looked at her clothing and smiled.

"How many women did it take to dress you this time?" At the question, Hera shot him an evil glare.

"Two." She answered.

"And how many pins?"

"One, on the shoulder." She winked at him.

"Impressive."

"Thank you." Her eyes left Daniel's face and travelled directly across the table, to the man she had not yet greeted. Alex stared at her with a look of utter repulsion as she stared back at him, softening her eyes into that familiar seductive stare. The tension in the room sparked like electricity as Daniel stared from Hera to Alex and back again.

"Now," Daniel began, practically making the two teenagers jump, "this may be presumptuous of me, but I would appreciate it if I could leave the two of you in a room together without the fear of you killing one another." Hera smirked at Alex. "Or…anything else that comes to mind. " The pair of them looked over to Daniel who almost laughed; they looked at him as though they had no idea what he was talking about. "Especially given the nature of the situation, I would very much like to keep you both alive."

"Why's that?" Alex asked.

"Because I have one last mission for you both."

"What?" Hera and Alex stared wide eyed at one another.

* * *

**If you want to find out exactly what the heck Hera is wearing to dinner then feel free to google 'Deepika Padukone Nach Baliye Sari'. Hera is part Indian. She gotta start representin'.**

**And a big shout out to anyone reading this who hit their twenties and still requires help to put a sari on. I tell my mother it's the 25% European part of me that refuses to learn.**

**Comments and kudos appreciated!**


	19. Weakness

For the first time in years, Alex and Hera were on the same page. Staring at each other as though they just realised who the other was, the pair of teenagers averted their eyes quickly for fear of giving too much away. Alex clenched his fist beneath the table, things were getting out of control too quickly; he had to think of a way to get out of here. Hera's earrings jingled and shimmered in the candlelight as she turned her head towards her boss, awaiting an explanation. The pair knew they could not work together. There was too much lost in the space between them.

Daniel leant back in his chair as though surveying a chess board; waiting to take his next move. He glanced at Rider who sat as though to attention, straight backed, lips pursed, not wanting to give anything away. His steel eyes narrowed on the billionaire with a hard, determined look. Goodchild almost laughed; Alex was so different to Hera. She glared at Daniel with barely suppressed infuriation; Hera was not the kind of person to sit back and let things play out. She always needed to be in control or, at least, in the loop. She was itching to say something, dying to put a knife to Daniel's throat and torture the information out of him. But Daniel could also see, from the way she bit her lip and clasped her hands in her lap, as though trying to stop herself from saying anything or lashing out, that she was trying to maintain her cool in front of Rider.

"In a month's time there is to be a meeting in London," as Goodchild began, Alex was already weighing up his options.  _London_.  _Home._ It was a chance to escape. But Goodchild had a hold on Sabina's future, as far as Alex knew, so he had to be cautious, bide his time. "Beneath one of the city's oldest hotels, linked to an underground bunker system, a meeting of at least fifty influential and devious masterminds is to take place." Goodchild took a sip of his cognac with great relish and watched as Hera placed her hand delicately on top of her wine glass so the sommelier, who had taken a step forward, could not poor her drink. The waiter took a step back into the corner of the room as Daniel shot Hera a quick look of sympathy; she often drank red wine at the dinner table. It was rich in colour and taste, as was she. It saddened Daniel to think he had upset her so much. "The meeting is an," he searched for the right word, "auction of sorts."

"An auction for what?" For the briefest of moments, Hera glanced up at Alex as he spoke. The blonde was determined not to look at her however, and kept his eyes steadily fixed on Goodchild.

"Novavirus." As Daniel spoke, Alex couldn't help himself, he stole a look up at Hera in shock. He recognised that word, the pair of them had dealt with the virus before. Three years ago. In Venice.

Hera swallowed hard as her gaze misted over. Slowly, she removed her hand from her wine glass, an indication that she was ready for a drink. The sommelier took a step forwards and poured Hera's wine. "Nova is dead." Hera said coldly. "We saw to that."

"You saw that it never made it to production." Daniel corrected her. "There is interest rekindling in its efficacy as a bio-weapon. Naturally, I want it." Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel watched Hera take a sip of her wine; her sweet lips parted softly as the delicious liquid ran along them. "But, I don't want to have to pay for it. Call me-"

"Cheap?" Alex suggested. Daniel responded with a small smirk.

"I suppose. I want you both to attend the meeting and represent me. You" he gestured to Alex, "will go in as my employee. Hera will be your guest." Hera and Alex shared the briefest of glances; a couple would be less suspicious than male and female co-workers travelling together. And it was easy to guess the types that would attend the event; in the middle of the busiest city in the world, a swanky hotel and an auction, it would be the rich and political elite attending. An entirely different class of criminal. The men would show up with models half their age draped on their arms. A young couple would be less suspicious; there half on business, half on each other. There was no point fighting it. "The two of you will discover where the virus is being kept and how to get to it. Then you will steal it." His last words were met with an agonising silence.

Alex looked from Hera to Goodchild and back again. The girl was staring into her wine, her big blue eyes unreadable for the time being. Goodchild sat confidently at the head of the table, aware that he was fully in control of the both of them. Hera was still indebted to him and Alex was at his mercy as long as Goodchild knew more about Sabina's whereabouts. Alex's eyes darted from Hera to the door. She had betrayed him for a second time. How could he even be in the same room with her, let alone go on a mission with her? He had to find a way back to London, he had to rescue Sabina, that was his mission now. He stood from the table abruptly. He was disgusted to find Hera didn't even flinch.

"Go fuck yourselves." Alex declined the mission and left the room.

As the butler opened the door to let Alex escape, Hera looked up at Daniel with round, hurt-filled eyes. "Why the hell didn't you tell me, Daniel?"

"Tell you what?"

"You know perfectly well what. We're supposed to be a team-"

"I am your boss." Hera stood form the table as he reminded her.

"Sure, when I've abducted my ex-partner and you need us to do your dirty work, you can maintain a professional relationship. But when your super model beau leaves you before you can get down to it, all of a sudden you consider me a booty call." Hera pushed her seat back and walked out of the room.

"Ouch!" She heard Daniel's reaction to her comment as she entered the hall. She began walking swiftly to her room, the drape of her sari swaying gracefully behind her. Daniel ran after her and grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. In the middle of the hall, Hera turned back to him, fuming. "What's going on, Hera?" He asked softly.

"I don't want to work with him."

"Hera, this isn't about what you want-"

"I won't work with him." She spoke bluntly, staring at a spot just above Daniel's right shoulder. Her gaze trailed to the floor. "I refuse the mission." Daniel's eyes widened in shock. Both had apparently forgotten Alex, who, having only left the dining room half a minute before them, had flattened himself against the stairs so as not to be seen through the banister, in order to eavesdrop on their conversation. Daniel stood straight and pointed to a room to their right of the pair.

"Into my study." He said sternly. For a second, it looked like Hera was going to disobey, but something inside of her made her hold her tongue. She walked across the hall and Daniel waved in annoyance at the staff in the hall so they left in a hurry, leaving the hall empty. He following closely after Hera.

Alex peered through the banister to see the pair make their way into a room on the floor below. He glanced around the hall quickly to find no one else lurking in shadows. Slowly, fearful that the floorboards of this old mansion might give his position away, he made his way down the stairs and towards the study.

Hera walked into Daniel's study to stand in front of his oak desk. There, she folded her arms and awaited her scolding. She knew she shouldn't argue, she knew she was yet to fulfil the terms of her contract with Daniel, but she had never realised that it would come to this. The white chiffon that hugged her frame glowed gold in the dim lighting of the room.

"Let's not say things we'll regret," Daniel said softly as he entered the study after her. He walked up to Hera and put his hands on either side of her face. Her blue eyes glittered up at him. "What's the matter, baby?" She pushed his hands away and pouted.

"He's out of shape." She protested. "Alex hasn't had a mission for three years now. He'll slow me down. I can do it on my own."

"You can train him up here. We have a month."

"That's not enough time." Hera raised her voice, fed up of having to explain herself. "If I have to have a partner then it needs to be someone who can cope with another mission. I'll take Natal-"

"Hera!" Like the crack of a whip, Daniel's utterance of her name was enough to silence Hera. She knew she had no right to argue, she had no right to fight for what she wanted. But what did she really want? It was becoming harder to hide. "Rider is going to be your partner and that is an order!" Daniel hissed at her and turned away, running his hands in his hair. He was completely exasperated with this girl; how many times had he changed missions or his own plans, just to cater to her whims? And now she was refusing a mission-

"Please." Daniel's thoughts stopped all at once. With that single word from Hera, all he thought of her came under question. He had never heard such pleading, such  _desperation_  in her voice. He turned to her slowly, a hand against his mouth in disbelief.

"What?"

"Please, Daniel." Her eyes were filling up with tears. "Please do not make Alex a part of this." Daniel lowered his hand from his mouth and appraised her as though seeing her for the first time.

"What's going on?"

"It will break him." Hera closed her eyes. It was too late. She had run out of options. She had no choice but to say it. "And seeing him hurt will break me. The mission will be jeopardised." A long minute of silence passed between the two. In Daniel's office, a place of dark wood bookshelves and lounge chairs, the billionaire found himself unsteady on his feet. He almost fell backwards to sit in his armchair and rubbed his eyes. So this was it. He had found it. The one thing criminals would have paid millions for; Hera St Claire's weakness.

"So the truth finally comes out." Daniel said, his voice cracking. "You're still care for him. Are you in love with him?" Daniel looked her straight in the eye but as a tear fell from her eyelashes, Hera gave nothing more away. She stood, looking delicate and hopeless, before him. "Jesus. I thought when you said we shouldn't kill him the you were using your head, I didn't realise it was to spare him." The dark haired man cursed himself; how could he have left himself fall so deeply under her spell? "Hera, why-"

"Because he's better than me." She interrupted. "He is everything I cannot be. He doesn't deserve this." Her bottom lip trembled and she wiped her eyes hurriedly as though she had no time for tears. "I won't see him get hurt."

"Hera, baby," Daniel said smoothly and stood up, his swagger returned as he realised he finally had total control over her. "You know you have to keep your emotions separate from your work. It's worked so well for you and I."

"What do you want Daniel?" The man raised an eyebrow; a bargain? That would always catch his attention and Hera decided to play on that addiction of his. "I will give you whatever you ask in return for Alex's safety." She did not avert her gaze from his but stared determinedly at her boss.

"Jesus. He's really got a hold on you, kid?"

"What do you want, Daniel?" Hera asked again as he sauntered up to her. Daniel place a hand on her waist and the other against her face. He leant in and placed a soft kiss on Hera's bottom lip. She had no reaction.

"You know what I want." Daniel whispered, staring eagerly at her lips, wanting them to pout for him.

"Sex?" Daniel rolled his eyes as she said this, his hand dropped from her face. "Love?" Daniel grimaced, "you know I adore you-"

"Spare me the friend-zoning bullshit, Hera." Daniel snapped and sat on the arm of the armchair. "I want access to your father's work." There was a moment of silence. It was the hardest place for Hera to be; caught between her remorse over her father's death and her unchecked feelings for her ex-partner. Hera let out a slow breath.

"Give me 48 hours to think it over."

"Is that an order?" She looked up at Daniel with a bored expression. "Ok, fine."

"Goodnight, Daniel." Hera walked past him. At the door, he called out to her.

"Hera?" She stopped in her tracks, her handle on the doorknob, waiting to hear what he had to say. "If sex  _is_  still on the table; it doesn't have to be  _on the table_ -"

"Goodnight, Daniel."

* * *

2:05 AM

Alex was sat at the edge of his bed in Goodchild's mansion. It had been hours since the conversation he overheard in the study. Hera had tried to protect him. But she brought him here in the first place! Endangered Sabina and Tom! Hera was nothing but a selfish, manipulative liar…wasn't she? Alex tugged at his hair and almost cried out in frustration. Why did she have to look so angelic? It tortured him no end; she was a murderer, regardless of how sweet her face was when she was scared. Regardless of how she would bite her lip in apprehension and push her hair behind her ear.

"Argh," Alex grunted and flung himself back to lie on his bed. She was a traitor.

But she was considering trading Alex's safety for her father's work. Slowly, the frustration ebbed away. Alex's face became serene as he remembered all too well what had happened in Venice. It was the beginning of the end of his relationship with Hera. It had destroyed everything about her. The guilt, the anger, the lies had completely ruined the girl he had fallen for. And she had vowed to make everything right with the world. That's why she was with Goodchild, Alex could almost piece together her life in the years after he had left MI6. She played out like a book; she lost her father and Alex and turned to someone who told her he could make it better. She was not here out of wanting to commit treason or being a morally corrupt human being. She was here for revenge. Alex knew that feeling. He knew how revenge can consume you. It can change who you are.

She still cared about him.

That simple thought made something inside of Alex flutter as though he were nervous and terrified. As though it was the first time he had met her, back when he was fifteen. Hera had a habit of making him feel that way. Completely out of his depth. That's how he felt here. In all honesty, he knew his mind had been made up for him. It wasn't like this situation was completely alien to him. Alex had been blackmailed and manipulated into work by bigger organisations that Goodchild's. And every time it had happened Alex believed it was the last time. Well, maybe this was the last time. Maybe he and Hera were destined for one last mission together. Maybe he could finally get some damn closure and move on from her.

Alex sat up again and looked around his room in misery. What should he do?

* * *

**Well, what should he do? Let me know what you think in a comment!**


	20. A Summer in London

So this story is almost 10 years old and whenever Summer comes to London I always think about re-writing it.

Is there an audience out there that wants to see this re-written? 

Thanks!

Val


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